One Night Changes Your Life
by VanInBlack
Summary: Jennifer Jareau and David Rossi have to deal with an unplanned pregnancy after a one-night stand. AU
1. Chapter 1

**One Night Changes Your Life**

**A/N:_ This story is a follow-up to my oneshot _"One Night"_, posted in the _Advent Calendar-_series as Chapter 16. Updates may be slow, at least until after the holidays, and I'm not quite sure how to end this. Please review and let me know what you think! _**

**Disclaimer: _CM and its characters don't belong to me._**

Chapter 1

"No, this can't be true!" Jennifer Jareau shook her head violently as two pink stripes appeared on the pregnancy test she'd just done. Her knees began to weaken as the realization sank in, and she had to sit down at the edge of her bathtub.

"God, this is so messed up," she thought, on the verge of bursting into tears. "How's that even possible? I'm on the pill!"

A thousand thoughts ran through her mind, but she couldn't seem to get a hold of them, dizziness waving through her body, making her sink onto the floor. How was she going to explain this to him?

It had been one night. Only one night that should make her feel like a desirous woman again. "Henry is only six months old, how am I going to handle two babies?"

Will, Henry's father had left her three months after the boy's birth, going back to New Orleans, where he'd come from. He had said that he missed his hometown, but JJ knew it was because of her, because she hadn't been attractive enough anymore for him. She knew it, because he'd told her on more than one occasion from the moment she and Henry had left the hospital that she should get rid of the baby weight on her hips. God, she'd tried, but it was not like it would secretly disappear after a few weeks. And with a newborn, her priorities were different for the moment. As the weeks had passed he'd pressed her harder, and she also noticed the way he looked at other women. She never knew if he had actually done more than just look at them, she never wanted to know, but after a while it was enough for her to take. Telling him that they both together would never work, he almost seemed relieved, ending things quickly by going back to Louisiana.

All of this wasn't quite conducive to her self-esteem, though, and she felt like she would never be interesting enough anymore for another man until he came along. David Rossi had told her with that deep, seductive tone in his voice that he'd thought Will LaMontagne was a fool for not noticing that she was more attractive, and sexier than ever before. He had invited her over to his cabin to prove his words to her, and she had agreed.

Her mother was watching Henry that night, when JJ followed him home.

She'd had the best sex in her entire life, for one night she had lost herself in the gentle touch and the strong arms of David Rossi. When the next morning came, they'd both agreed to leave it at that one night.

It was especially hard for JJ to pretend like nothing had happened, but she didn't want to destroy their good work-relationship by demanding something from him that he didn't seem to want to give. She realized over the next couple of weeks that David Rossi had managed to capture her heart, mind and soul, and it became harder and harder for her to pretend that this night hadn't meant anything to her. The fact that Rossi seemed to take it a lot easier, almost made her cry every time she saw him, and she had to hold back from smacking him in the face.

And now this. JJ couldn't quite determine how he would react when he heard the news, but she was sure he'd be less then thrilled. Hell, and she had assured him that she was on the pill!

She knew he liked children, he was good with Henry every time she brought him with her; as long as they weren't his own, he was fine, but he had stressed on more than one occasion that, since it didn't happen with three ex-wives, own children obviously weren't meant to be in his life. "And honestly, I never really saw myself as a father," she heard him tell Hotch once.

Two days later, her doctor had officially confirmed JJ that she was indeed pregnant and she had slowly gotten used to the thought of expecting another child so soon after her first.

Now the moment of truth had come. She was standing in front of Rossi's office, nervously debating with herself if this was really the right moment for telling him such big news. The night before, she had briefly thought of not telling him at all, of simply saying that the baby was the product of a one-night stand with a stranger once she started showing, but she knew better than to lie to a profiler. He wasn't stupid, besides, she'd told him at their night that this was the first time she'd had sex since Henry's birth, and she was pretty sure that Dave knew she was usually not the type of person to have a lot of meaningless one-night stands, despite the one with him.

And to her it hadn't been meaningless at all. She'd never felt anything like that before when she'd slept with Rossi. They had made love, she realized, now finally seeing clearly what making love truly meant. When he'd suggested on keeping it a one-time event, she'd agreed, but it had broken her heart. She knew she'd secretly had feelings for Rossi even before Henry was here, despite trying to make a relationship work with Will, but only in the past few weeks had she started to admit it to herself. Rossi had been a great friend after Will had been gone, having been there for her no matter what, but right now, she didn't know what all of this was worth.

Taking one last deep breath, she knocked on his office door, walking in as she heard his voice – this sexy and deep male voice that she loved so much – call her in.

"Jennifer! What brings you in here? What can I do for you?" She shivered at his use of her first name. He was the only one who did it occasionally and it always made her want to jump at him and kiss him senseless. But right now was not the moment to think about that.

"I, uhm, I've gotta talk to you," she said haltingly, trying hard not to lose the courage she'd talked into herself all morning.

"Sure, sit down." David guided her over to his black leather office couch and sat down next to her.

"What is it?"

Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to find her words.

"I-I'm pregnant," she finally pressed out, not looking into his eyes but on her nervously teetering feet.

"You – what?" His voice sounded surprised – at best. He swallowed hard and then asked again: "Excuse me?" Now, the anger could clearly not be missed.

"I'm pregnant," JJ repeated, her voice steady and determined now, even though she didn't feel that way.

"But you said you were on the pill? How could you be pregnant?" He was shaking his head in disbelief.

"I was! I don't know how it happened! My doctor said it could be because I'd only taken it for one cycle after Henry's birth. No contraception method is 100% safe," she tried to defend herself.

"Ah, come on, JJ. I'm not buying that. Did you forget to take it, or what?"

"I didn't, Dave. I swear!"

He stood up and started pacing the room. "Great, that's just great," he said sarcastically, flashing her angry glances. "And what are you going to do about it?"

Jumping up herself, JJ snapped: " Excuse me? Are you implying that I should get rid of my child? You know what, you selfish son of a bitch? Go to hell, where you belong!" She stormed out of his office, leaving a stunned David Rossi standing helplessly in the middle of the room, knowing that he had just screwed up big.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rushing out of Rossi's office, JJ fumed with rage. She had anticipated that he would not jump with happiness at the prospect of becoming a father, but to actually suggest to her to dispose of her child – no matter how implicitly or unconsciously – was more than she could take. It was simply not acceptable for her. She stormed past Hotch's office blindly and was about to run down the stairs when she bumped into him.

"Whoa, JJ!" Hotch blew out. "What's up with you?"

JJ just shook her head. "Nothing, Hotch, it's nothing."

Furrowing his brows at the sight of violent anger mirroring in her face, he went on: "You sure? You look like someone's pissed you off tremendously."

She shot a dark glance into the direction of Rossi's office and Hotch knew exactly that his friend must have pulled one of his infamous stunts again that had it in their nature to upset people. He just didn't know what it was, yet, but he was determined to find out. Bad blood within their team was nothing he would tolerate as it might diminish their successful teamwork.

"JJ, whatever he has done now, I'm sure he didn't mean it," Hortch tried to calm his blonde media liaison down.

"Oh yeah? I highly doubt that. He sounded pretty clear to me."

"Look, why don't we go inside and you tell me about it? Maybe I can help you with him?" Hotch suggested, guiding her into his office, before she had a chance to protest.

"Have a seat. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Yes, I'll have one so that I can throw it at him!" JJ raged.

"What happened? Did he have one of his stupid little chats with the press again?"

"No, that's not it." JJ took a deep breath, knowing that Hotch wouldn't like what he was going to hear.

"What is it then?"

"You're not going to like it."

"Why don't you tell me so that I can decide for myself?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

"JJ, I'm sure it's not that bad now, is it?"

"It is actually. I'm pregnant."

"What?" Hotch was dumbfounded.

"I'm pregnant," JJ repeated.

"But what does Dave have...," he started, as it hit him. "Wait, is he...?"

"Yes, Hotch. Rossi is the father."

"Oh my God, I can't believe this."

"Told you, you won't like it."

He looked at her for a few seconds, seeing sad, tired eyes instead of the joy one's supposed to have written all over their face when expecting a child, and he realized that he wouldn't be helping her if he reproached her now. Smiling encouragingly he said gently: "I'm guessing he's not thrilled then."

"He doesn't want to have it." JJ's voice sounded almost numb.

"What? The baby?"

"Yes. He more or less told me to get rid of it."

Hotch shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he'd heard.

"JJ, are you sure? I mean, maybe he didn't mean it like that."

"Hotch, I am sure!" She stressed.

Hotch fell silent for a moment, before he asked: "How long has this been going on with you and Dave?"

JJ sighed deeply and looked down on the floor as a small tear escaped her eye. "There is nothing going on. It was just one night."

"And you didn't use protection?"

"I was on the pill, I honestly thought this wasn't going to happen."

Seeing her let her head fall into her hands, he continued: "Am I correct to assume that you wanted more than just one night?"

JJ raised her head again. "I don't know, maybe. We both agreed that it was only a one-time event."

"But you have deeper feelings for him, am I right?" JJ didn't have to answer his question to tell him that he was right, when he saw her desperate eyes.

Taking her hand and pressing it reassuringly, he said: "I'm going to talk to him, okay? We'll find a solution."

Smiling lightly for the first time since she'd left Rossi's office, JJ answered: "Thanks, Hotch. I really appreciate it. But I'm not sure if you can do anything about it."

"Let's see, JJ. I know Dave can be a real jerk sometimes, and more often than not he needs some pushing in the right direction, but I don't think he'd be stupid enough to miss out on his first child."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When JJ had left his office, Hotch took a deep breath. He had tried hard not to let his rage about Rossi's behavior overwhelm him in front of JJ, knowing it wouldn't help any of them, but at the moment, he could not remember if he had ever been this angry with his friend before. How Rossi always managed to affect a whole bunch of people around him with his loose behavior was beyond Hotch's understanding.

Rossi was a notorious playboy, he had been ever since Hotch knew him, and normally he was not particularly interested in Rossi's love life, but this time it was different. This time he had hurt not only a valued member of his team – and therefore possibly jeopardized the whole team dynamics – but also someone Hotch considered a friend. A close friend.

Trying to keep his emotions under control, he went over to Rossi's office, and entered without even bothering to knock. He found Rossi sitting on his couch, looking up at him in surprise as he came in.

"Hotch, what...," Rossi started, but was immediately interrupted.

"You've gone too far this time, Dave!" Hotch said harshly.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Rossi retorted, anger rising in him.

"Oh, I think you know quite well what I'm talking about. You and JJ!"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"Yes it is! For one because I don't appreciate bad blood among my team ..."

"Then why do you only blame me?" Rossi tried to interrupt, but was talked over without a blink.

"And second, in case you've missed it, I consider JJ a friend, and I don't like to see my friends get hurt."

"Up until now I thought we were friends, too."

"We are, Dave, and I care as much about you as I do about JJ, but you screwed up this time and I can't accept that."

"Wait a minute, she was there, too. She was participating rather willingly in the act that got her pregnant," Rossi tried to defend himself.

"I'm not particularly blaming you for having had sex with her – I'm not too thrilled about that either, but it's not what I'm driving at right now. What makes me really angry is the fact that you called her a liar and that you actually had the nerve to suggest to her she should get an abortion."

"Wait, when did I say that? I never said that!" he exclaimed.

"You might not have said it, but you've implied it, and JJ understood it that way. Do you even think for once before you speak?"

"And what was that about me calling her a liar?"

"The thing with the pill, maybe? You accusing her of having forgotten to take it?" Hotch asked sarcastically.

"Ah, come on, Hotch, you have to admit that something has to be wrong with that. How many women do you know that got pregnant while on the pill?"

Hotch could only shake his head in disbelief. "You are obviously a lot more stupid than I thought."

Before Rossi could say another word, he continued: "But enough of that now. What I want to know is what you're going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is your child we're talking about here."

"Damn it, Hotch, you can't blame me for not being overjoyed with happiness. I never planned on becoming a father. I don't want to be a father."

"Well, you will be, so you better start getting used to that thought."

"I can't be a father."

"Dave, don't make me hit you now!" Hotch warned him with an angry gleam in his eyes. "You and JJ need to talk. Sooner than later."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hotch had said he wanted her and Rossi for a meeting in his office in – JJ took a look at her watch – half an hour. He didn't sound too pleasant when he came to her office after his talk with Rossi, but hadn't said anything about the content of his and Rossi's conversation. His facial expression gave away a lot, though, anger clearly shining through his usual stoic mimic.

Although he hadn't specifically made the meeting an order, JJ knew that it was. And she also knew why. Besides trying everything to support her as a friend, of which she was really grateful, JJ was aware of the fact that Hotch was worried about his team, that he had to make sure that, however she and Rossi stood to each other, the team didn't suffer.

She perfectly understood him, the last thing she wanted was to let their private life interfere with their work, with the team's success, and as much as she wanted inflict unbearable harm on Rossi at the moment, she also knew that she would find a way to bring herself to maintain a professional work relationship with him. The team needed him, as a world class profiler he was vital to their achievement. They all played an important part in their high success rates, each member of the team in its own way, and JJ did not want to jeopardize that.

With a deep sigh she made her decision. She was going to give Rossi one last chance at their meeting with Hotch. Not knowing what they both had talked about earlier, she thought that maybe Rossi just needed a few moments to get used to the fact of having a child soon. Should he apologize to her later, she would not deprive him of the chance of being a father. Should he, however, remain the stubborn person he had shown her he was this morning, she would not let him within a one mile radius of her child.

Professional behavior at work, she reckoned, should not be a problem for her. If she could deal with a horde of hungry hyenas of the press on each case, than she could also get on with Rossi.

Another glance at her watch told her it was time now. Slowly walking across the bullpen to Hotch's office, she was glad that her teammates still seemed to be on their lunch break, as a meeting between her, Rossi and Hotch, and without them, surely would have aroused questions, she was not prepared to answer yet.

*******

As soon as Hotch had left Rossi's office again, he sat back in his chair and slammed his hand on the desk. Damn, JJ's pregnancy and Hotch's clear leaning towards her side had caught him off guard.

Becoming a father still seemed unreal to him, the whole concept of being a parent never had this welcoming appeal to him that it seemed to have on most other people.

JJ was a wonderful person, someone who he had easily fallen for the moment they'd met, but he had never made a move, knowing that this – a family and children – was what she wanted, and what he would never be able to give her. When she'd met Will LaMontagne, he was happy for her for having found someone that could give her what she wanted, even though it still hurt that she was now officially off limits for him. But that stupid idiot of a cop had screwed up and Rossi, standing by her side as a true and reliable friend, had felt himself being drawn more and more into JJ's sphere, until that one night a couple of weeks ago, when he wasn't able to hold himself back anymore. Oh, how much he wished the next morning that he had! There was no way he could have more than one night with her. She was highly addictive, and he knew that if he didn't watch out, he'd be in for everything, without a return ticket.

Oh, the problem was not Henry. He loved the little boy, more than he dared imagine, but he told himself repeatedly that he was not made to be a father. The risk of screwing up was too high, he told himself, so there was only one way to prevent that: Stop it, before it had a chance to start.

God, how much he had missed JJ in the nights to follow. Talk about addiction...

Every night, he went to bed wishing she was there with him, if only to hold her, inhale her unique scent and keep her and himself warm. But his last thoughts before he fell asleep were always: "It's for the best."

And now this! Ever since JJ had told him the news this morning, his world seemed to be spinning around him, seemed to slip out of his control.

He had to make sense of it until the meeting with Hotch and JJ, but wherever he started to order his thoughts, he only came back to one and the same point: "I can't be a father, I'm not ready to be a father." He had to laugh scornfully at his own thoughts. Fifty four years old and not ready to be a father, that was just as ridiculous as it sounded. Putting all his hope into Hotch's ability to mediate, he stood up as he noticed that it was time for their meeting and went over to his office.

At the door he met JJ, shooting him a dark look, and he cringed at the hurt and pain he detected in her eyes, knowing that it was him who had caused it, and not being sure at how to ease it.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: I was going to upload this yesterday, but my new toy, aka portable hard drive, got in the way, and I spent a whole day "cleaning up" my laptop. By the way, I was actually surprised at the numerous alerts I got over the past days, thanks a lot for that. Special thanks to everyone, who has reviewed, it really makes me happy to hear what you think, so keep it coming. Oh, and as a warning: there won't be many happy JJ/Rossi chapters for a while, but I promise I'll try my best to work towards a happy ending for both of them.  
**_

Chapter 5

Once they were seated inside Hotch's office, the Unit Chief wasted no time and got straight to the topic.

"Okay, I want this to be a calm and rational talk, guys. No one will leave the room until you two have worked out some kind of agreement, understood?"

JJ and Rossi nodded.

"So, who wants to start? Dave?"

Rossi frowned at him, but started to speak after a few seconds. "Listen, JJ, I don't really know what to say right now. I am really sorry about the way I feel, but I can't help it. I can't change into a different man within a few hours. It's just that I'm not ready to be a father, and I don't see how I could ever be."

"Not ready?" JJ shrieked, and was immediately interrupted by Hotch. "JJ, please, I know you're upset, and you have my full understanding for that, but screaming at each other won't help you two find a solution."

She nodded shortly, and went on in a quieter tone. "You think I was ready to have another child so soon after Henry? I wasn't, god, I'm still not sure how everything will work out, but complaining about it doesn't change the facts now, does it?"

"Then tell me why we are in this situation again." Rossi started to accuse her again.

"Dave, stop." Hotch interfered at once, knowing exactly what the older man was about to say. "This is not the time and place to discuss how you two got into this. Although, let me add that I don't quite understand how two intelligent and experienced adult people with no desire for another child, were not able to use adequate protection to prevent pregnancy."

Seeing that both wanted to answer to that, he quickly raised his hand to silence them. "No, don't say anything. That was a rhetorical question. And yes, Dave, you are just as much to blame for it. Fact is that you are becoming parents and that you have to focus on this issue rather than accusing each other of all kinds of things. On with it."

Hesitantly, Rossi began again. "If you need money for the child, I can help you with that, JJ."

"You think I want your money? The child needs a father to be there for him, not his money."

"JJ, I don't think I can do that. I don't want strings. I tried that, three times, and it didn't work out. I failed, and I don't want to fail anyone again," Rossi tried to defend himself.

"You're afraid, Dave," Hotch threw in.

"Hell, yeah, but I can't change that." Rossi sighed, looking from him to JJ, searching for at least a tiny bit of understanding in them.

JJ shook her head vigorously, tears forming in her eyes as she stated with an ultimate finality in her voice: "You know what, Rossi? Go to hell. Stay out of my life and my child's life."

Seeing the pain in her eyes, Rossi tried to apologize. "I'm so sorry, JJ, I really am. I can only say that if you need any money, you just have to ask, but I just don't know how much more I can give you."

"And I will say it again: I don't need your money! If this is your last word, I will have a waiver of paternity drawn up for you to be signed as soon as the baby's here."

Rossi lowered his head in defeat, but didn't say another word.

Waiting for a few seconds to analyze the situation in front of him, Hotch realized that there would not be a happy ending for his two friends, at least not for the moment.

"Well, if this is the way you two want it, let's move on to the next point. What I want to know from both of you, is: Are you still capable of working together? Will you manage to not let your animosities interfere with our work?"

JJ answered first. "Of course, Hotch."

Rossi nodded in agreement, as JJ turned towards him again. "I think that it would be for the best if we didn't tell the team yet that I am pregnant, and when we will, it's probably easier if they didn't know who fathered that child."

Rossi nodded again, and JJ continued. "As hard as it is for me to say this right now, Rossi, but you are an important part of this team. The others look up to you, they respect you, and I'm not sure if it is any good for our continued success if they lost that respect."

He felt ashamed for not being able to bring up the same grandeur as JJ, so he simply whispered: "Thank you, JJ, I really appreciate that."

"Shut up, Rossi. I'm not doing this for you, but for the team. I happen to like my job, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't spoil that by making the work atmosphere within our unit insufferable. You and I have nothing else to say to each other anymore except for work related issues."

As Rossi didn't say anything else, Hotch began to speak again. "Are you two sure, you can pull this off? I mean, you do realize that you're working with people who read behavior for a living, don't you? They may notice anyway."

"I am sure," JJ insisted. "From now on, I will not let my private life interfere with work ever again."

"I can do it, too." Rossi said.

"Fine. But let me give you one last warning. If this agreement doesn't work out, I will have to pull one of you from the team."

JJ knew exactly that although he didn't specify it, she would be the one who'd have to go. Rossi knew it as well, and it was the last thing he wanted. He slowly began to realize that he might have lost her for good. Not being able to see her anymore every day would break him. Little did he know that the following months would do just that with him, but he had no idea, how he was ever going to fix the mess that he'd made.

"Well then, if that's all you have to say, I suggest you go back to work. I will do my best to support you. Both of you. And I want you to come to me with any problem, you understand me?" Hotch concluded their meeting.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

JJ and Rossi proved their words to their Unit Chief over the next months. Their behavior towards each other at the office and on the cases was nothing but professional, everything seemed to be just as usual – except for the fact that they avoided each other like the plague. They'd easily fallen into a habit of taking turns when Morgan or Prentiss asked for spending lunch together, or when the team went out to have dinner together during a case. Every once in a while, they realized, both of them had to be present at those occasions if they didn't want to raise suspicions among their fellow team members, but they both made sure to sit as far away from each other as possible. And it seemed to work, neither of the rest of the team questioned anything.

Of course it was also because Hotch did his best to help JJ and Dave out. He refrained from teaming them together for interviews with witnesses and the like, something of which both were extremely grateful for.

When JJ reached the end of the first trimester of her pregnancy, she decided it was time to tell the rest of the team. The were all astounded about news, since they hadn't been aware that JJ had been dating anyone since Will, but everyone was really happy for her.

"So, are you going to tell us, who the lucky father is?" JJ involuntarily cringed at Garcia's innocently spoken words as they filed out of the round table room at the end of their meeting. Trying not to lose her composure, JJ answered: "Garcie, it's not important. He's not part of my life, or the baby's."

"He let you down?" Emily exclaimed with an incredulous look.

"It was just a one-night stand, girls. There's no need to complicate things any more for everyone," JJ said with a certainty she didn't know she possessed in this situation.

"JJ, you of all people were having a one-night stand? Like I believe that." Garcia didn't want to give up so fast, but was shut up by JJ immediately.

"Garcia, stop it. I don't have anything else to say about this other than I've just said."

Penelope exchanged a skeptical look with Prentiss, but they didn't push the matter.

"So, any preferences after Henry? Want to have a girl this time or another boy?" Emily asked then, changing the subject.

"To be honest, I haven't quite thought about that." JJ smiled. "But I've always wanted a little girl."

"Oh, a girl would be great!" Garcia threw in excitedly. "Just think about all those fancy little dresses you could don her, and what you could do with her hair and so on!"

"I don't doubt that you would like that, Penelope," Emily smirked.

"Oh yeah, I have quite a few ideas already," Garcia admitted.

"God help us all!" JJ laughed. "But you do know it could still be a boy, too, don't you?"

"I know, I know. Doesn't change the fact that I already have the perfect ideas."

***

It wasn't near as easy to pretend as JJ thought it would be. Seeing Rossi every day at work was hard, painful even.

Three months ago, she never would have thought that she'd dread to go to the office every day. In fact, it had been quite the opposite. Besides the fact that she loved her job, it was the prospect of being with Rossi that she had been looking forward to every morning. And now she couldn't believe how it all had turned out.

Every time she saw him she berated herself for not being able to get over her feelings for him. True, she was still more than angry with him than she'd ever been with anyone in her life, but deep down she knew what she missed the most during the day. Him. Their lunch breaks together, their coffee breaks, talking about Henry with him. He had always asked about the little boy, seemed genuinely interested in everything, which made it even harder to make sense of his behavior now.

Now, the same man broke her heart every day a little bit more. She would never admit it, but the one thing she secretly hoped the most was that he would eventually come around. She was too proud to talk to him, however, and no such thing happened.

He ignored her just as she did him

Every night, she cradled Henry to her chest until he was asleep, while tears were running down her cheeks. "Oh Henry, sweetheart, I never wanted it to come this far. How did I let this happen?"

She cried herself to sleep at nights, and in the mornings she needed longer to apply her makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes with every day. She was functioning on minimum hours of sleep and it became more and more obvious that the whole situation was taking its toll on her.

When someone asked her about her tired looks, she usually told them something about Henry having colics.

Hotch and Rossi were the only ones who knew what was really going on with her.

"JJ!" Hotch approached her one day as they were on their way to another case. "Maybe you should stay behind this time, get some rest."

"I'm fine, Hotch," JJ answered with determination.

"You don't look fine."

"I know, but it's going to be okay. I just need some more time to get over it."

"JJ..."

"Hotch, please. Let me do my job. I'm not sure if I could handle it, if you took that away from me. I need to occupy myself with something."

"All right, JJ," Hotch sighed. "But be careful, will you? And talk to me if you need anything."

JJ nodded.

"Shall I talk to Dave again? Maybe you two manage to work everything out?"

"What good would it do? You heard him."

"I was just thinking..."

"Hotch, leave it. He made his intentions very clear, don't you think? I'm not interested in hearing it again."

***

For Rossi it was just as hard seeing JJ suffering. It bothered him more with every day that her usual bright smile, which he had been looking forward to every morning when he left his house, had vanished off her face completely.

Pregnant women were supposed to shine, to become more and more beautiful as the pregnancy proceeded, but the only thing on JJ that indicated she was expecting a baby, was her growing belly. It was nothing like when she was pregnant with Henry.

Not that she wasn't beautiful anymore, Rossi still found her to be the most stunning woman he'd ever laid eyes on, but the glow that seemed to surround her, that lightened every room when she came in, it had disappeared. His heart ached every moment of the day, but he couldn't bring himself to take a step forward.

"She's better off without me," he told himself every night, sitting in his living room recliner with a glass of Scotch in his hands.

He went from one glass after dinner to at least three or four until he was drunk enough to fall into a dreamless sleeps at nights. After a while he couldn't even remember anymore what it was like to start work without a hangover.

It hurt, too, that he also seemed to have lost his best friend. Hotch and he weren't talking anymore as well, which was more due to his own refusal rather than for Hotch's lack of tries. Dave just couldn't look into his eyes anymore. He missed their gatherings in either one of their offices after work, but he was nowhere near ready for Hotch's reproaches and advice concerning JJ.

As long as the cases were keeping him busy, it wasn't so bad, he didn't have to think about her and the mess around him all the time, but the lonely breaks and evenings at home were hell. He tried to tell himself that without a doubt JJ would never speak with him again, that her ignorant behavior gave it all away, but he also knew that it was all due to his own fault. No matter how often he told himself it was all for the best, that he would just screw up if he were a father, deep in his heart he was wondering all the time if he was making the right decision, or if this was the biggest mistake in his life.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

JJ's parents came to visit her daughter about six months into her pregnancy.

JJ had already told them on the phone that they were going to be grandparents again, but they couldn't make it earlier as they had to take care of their little grocery store in the small town of East Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

When they heard the news of another grandchild so soon after their first, they were shocked, no doubt. Especially as their daughter had informed them that the baby was the product of a one-night stand. They were still not entirely happy with the fact that JJ hadn't married Will, Henry's father, and it surely didn't sit well with their conservative lifestyle that their Jennifer was now expecting the second baby from the second man. But after they had overcome the initial shock, they wanted to do everything within their power to support her.

JJ really appreciated her parents' aid, but also fully understood that they could only make it to D.C every so often, so when they announced their visit for a weekend in October, she initially tried to talk them out of it, knowing that they had to leave a lot of work at home in Pennsylvania. Secretly, she was quite happy that her parents were coming, because she could actually use her father's help with a second crib and a little redecorating in Henry's nursery.

Mary-Ann and Robert Jareau arrived around lunchtime on Saturday, and had insisted on taking a cab from the airport to Jennifer's house.

"You really shouldn't be driving, Jennifer," her mother had said in her usual overprotective way, causing her daughter to roll her eyes at the phone.

"Mom, I'm pregnant, not sick. I drive to work every day."

"Still. We're perfectly fine with taking a taxi." Mary-Ann left no room for debate, and in the end JJ was actually happy about it, because it left her more time to prepare some lunch for them, and to feed Henry before they arrived.

***

"Oh my God, Jennifer, Sweetheart, what's wrong with you?" Mary-Ann Jareau exclaimed as she saw her daughter once she had opened the door.

With her tired eyes, the dark circles underneath them, and the pale face, JJ was really looking more like a ghost than like a healthy and pregnant young woman.

"Mom, I'm fine! Why don't you come in first?" JJ sighed, hugging her mother tightly before turning to her father.

"Hi, Daddy!" She greeted him, as he pulled her into an even tighter embrace.

"Jenny, Sweetheart," he said, giving her a kiss on the head. "Your mother's right."

"Daddy, please, why don't you get in and get comfortable first, before you start with your questions?"

Inside, her mother went straight for Henry, who was sitting in his highchair at the kitchen table. "Oh, you're getting so big!" Mary-Ann cooed at the little boy.

"Mom, Dad, let me have your coats. Sit down, lunch is almost ready."

They ate lunch in silence for a few minutes, before JJ's mother started her interrogation.

"Jennifer, are you all right? You seriously don't look like it."

"Mom, I'm okay. I've had a rough couple of months at work, that's all."

"Maybe you shouldn't be working then anymore." Robert Jareau threw in.

"Dad, I like my job, and it's nothing I can't handle, so don't worry." JJ tried to explain.

"But what are you going to do when the baby's here? You'll have two of them then, and with your type of work, and all...," her mother continued.

"I'm sure I can work something out for the time after my maternity leave."

"Jenny, what about the baby's father?"

"Forget it, Daddy, he's not in the picture." JJ saw her parents exchange a look and went on. "Look, Mom, Dad, I know you don't approve of the way I've chosen to live my life, but I'm not sure if I can handle your reproaches right now."

"Jennifer, we're not accusing you of anything, it's just that we didn't expect all of this from you. It's not how we raised you."

"Mom, please. If you like it or not, you can't change it anymore. And believe me, I surely didn't plan all this."

Robert Jareau laid a soothing hand on his wife's arm and then said. "Jenny, it's okay. We may not agree on your lifestyle, but we're still your parents and we will give you all the help you need. It's just that I can't really believe this one-night stand with a stranger story. This is nothing like you. I'm sure there is more to the story, is there?"

Sighing deeply, JJ turned her gaze away from her parents and began to stroke Henry's little fingers, absorbed in thought.

"Who is the baby's father? Is it that LaMontagne guy again?" Her father asked.

"No!" JJ blurted out. "No, he's not the father. I haven't seen him ever since he left us and went back to New Orleans."

"So, who is it then?" Her mother kept pushing.

"What does it matter? He's not going to be in the baby's life, so we really don't have to talk it right now." JJ didn't even have to say more, her tortured expression on her face giving away everything.

"But he knows that you're pregnant? What kind of an asshole is he? I'm going to kill this guy for putting you in this situation if I ever find out who he is!"

"That's why I'm not telling you, Daddy."

"Are you actually defending him now?"

"I'm not, but committing murder won't bring us any further, will it? Can we please change the subject now?" She made a promise to herself to never tell her parents about Rossi, for she was sure that if she did, even more reproaches from her parents would follow, starting with "How could you get involved with someone you work with?" to "Jennifer, this man is old enough to be your father!" In fact, JJ realized that her Dad was only four years older than Rossi.

Apart from their constant questions, however, the weekend was a real pleasure. She loved her parents more than anything, even though her opinion on various matters differed vastly from her parents'. She was happy to see them, happy that they got to spend some time with Henry, and she was very thankful for all the help with the nursery and many other things. It was good to know that someone was there to have her back, just in case things would get out of hand.

***

Once she was alone with Henry again, her apartment almost felt empty.

Sitting down on her sofa with her baby in her arms, she felt lonelier than ever. Her mind wandered to Rossi, as it did every time she was alone, thinking. Before their night together, in the aftermath of her breakup with Will, she would have called him in a situation like that. They would talk on the phone for hours, or he would come over and listen to her ranting about Will's departure, making her forget her lonliness.

And now, he had turned out to be the same asshole as that good-for-nothing cop!

She began to wonder if she did the right thing in not telling her parents about Rossi. Her father would have made a living hell out of Rossi's life, of that she was sure. But there were still those damn feelings she couldn't get over. She knew exactly that his behavior only hurt her as much as it did, because she was still deeply in love with the man. She cursed herself for it, but she couldn't seem to find a way out of it. Sitting at home, alone, with nothing but her thoughts, seriously wasn't helping with that.

Garcia and Prentiss had been pushing her to go out on dates again. JJ had refused so far, thinking that there probably weren't many decent guys out there who would want to be with a pregnant woman that already had another child at home.

"JJ, you don't have to find a guy to marry, just go out and have some fun. It'll do you good." Garcia had said, offering to babysit Henry to emphasize her point.

It didn't sound so far off anymore, as she sat there on the couch, on the verge of crying again. She had to promise her parents to take better care of herself, and this might just be one way of getting better.

"Well, it surely can't hurt any more than it does now. Maybe this is a way to get over Rossi," she thought to herself.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A couple of weeks after her parents' visit, JJ went out for her Christmas shopping. Taking advantage of Garcia's offer to babysit Henry, she knew she was quite early with it this year, as it was only the first weekend in November, but she figured that now was the last chance to do it without any major efforts, as her belly was getting bigger and bigger with every day. She really didn't want to do her Christmas shopping pressed in between thousands of other people almost nine months pregnant.

She got presents for her parents and for Henry, of course, and decided to give Hotch a gift, too this year, a small thank-you present for all the help she'd received from him in the past months.

Fully packed with shopping-bags after a few hours, she made her way back to the elevators that led to the parking garage.

Struggling to push the elevator button with all the bags in her hands, she suddenly heard an all too familiar voice from behind.

"Wait, I'll help you."

She turned around and looked right into David Rossi's face.

"JJ!" He breathed out in surprise.

"Rossi." She nodded shortly.

Then another voice, female this time, was heard. "Davey, why didn't you wait for me?"

JJ took a look behind Rossi and saw a small, elderly woman with silver-dark hair approaching.

"Why don't you introduce me to your friend?" The woman insisted as soon as she reached them. Dave sighed and made the introductions. "Jennifer Jareau, this is my mother, Gracia Rossi. Mama, this is JJ, my colleague from the BAU."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Rossi," Jennifer said politely, and felt herself immediately drawn to the older woman.

"What a lovely young woman my Davey is working with!" Gracia Rossi exclaimed and pulled JJ into a friendly and warm hug. How Rossi turned out to become such a jackass with a wonderful mother like that, was beyond JJ's understanding.

"And she's having a baby!" Mrs. Rossi continued excitedly. With a disapproving glance on her son, she said to JJ: "I'm sure your parents are really happy to becoming grandparents. My Davey, unfortunately, hasn't graced me with grandchildren so far." Rossi cringed at his mother's innocently spoken words, and JJ almost burst into tears.

Everything in her wanted to scream at Rossi's mother that it _was_ her grandchild she was carrying, but the words didn't make it out of her mouth. Rossi felt a painful clench in his heart when he saw both his mother's excitement and JJ's hurt expression. Oh, how much he wished he could make everything right, but he didn't say a word either.

Gracia Rossi didn't seem to notice the tension between the two, as she continued to talk away. "So, do you already know what you will have?" She asked, pointing at JJ's belly. JJ shook her head.

"No, I thought I'd want to have it a surprise."

"And your husband is excited too, yes?"

"Well, actually, I'm not married," she said uneasily. Gracia Rossi understood immediately.

"I'm sorry to hear that. The bastard deserves a thorough treatment with a rolling pin, I reckon?" Shooting Dave a fierce glance, she went on. "My Davey here knows that I'm not too old for putting someone across my knee."

JJ almost burst out into laughter at the irony of the situation, had it not been so tragic, and she saw Rossi growing more and more uncomfortable. She was sure the determined woman in front of them would give him hell, if she knew what was really going on, but when she saw the loving look Gracia Rossi exchanged with her son, she couldn't bring herself to tell her that her son was the prize bastard they were talking about.

"No," she thought. "This is between me and Rossi. No need to give the poor woman any grief or a probably even a heart attack."

"Are you on your way home?" Mrs. Rossi asked then.

"Actually, yes, I'm done with my Christmas shopping for this year."

"We're also finished for today. Davey, help the girl with the bags, will you?" She commanded her son, simply brushing JJ's objection away.

They got into the elevator, and rode down to the garage.

"I'll be waiting at our car. It was wonderful meeting such a lovely young lady, " Mrs. Rossi said, pulling JJ into another hug.

"The pleasure was all mine," JJ replied honestly. She'd liked David's mother instantly.

Taking JJ's bags, Rossi walked her over to her car.

"Thanks." JJ said shortly when they reached her Volvo.

"You're welcome." There was an awkward silence between them for a few seconds before Rossi began to speak again.

"JJ- Jennifer. Thank you for not telling my mother."

"Bite me, Rossi! I did not do this for you. Your wonderful mother obviously is not aware what a stupid son of a bitch you are, otherwise she would not adore you the way she does. Anyway, I was just trying to spare her from the disappointment. God knows that you deserve her rolling pin." He knew she was right.

"Listen, can we..." he began, but was immediately interrupted by her.

"I gotta go now." Slamming the trunk shut, she walked around the car and got in without another look or word.

Rossi hung his head in defeat. "How am I ever going to get out of this mess?" He wondered as he slowly walked back to his own car.

***

Back at home, JJ occupied herself with wrapping the gifts. Garcia was going to bring Henry back by eight o'clock, so she still had a few hours to herself. Her thoughts drifted to Rossi's mother.

She was such a warm-hearted and gentle, yet very determined woman. There was no one – besides her own mother of course – she could imagine to be a better grandmother for her child. Damn Rossi, because of his stupidity her baby would never even get to know her.

Suddenly, she felt as if everything around her was breaking down. Letting her head fall into her hands, she started to cry, and couldn't seem to stop even after a long while. It was all too much, the stress of the past months finally overwhelming her.

JJ didn't know how long exactly she sat there on the living room floor between all the gift wrap and the presents, and she was only pulled out of her thoughts when the doorbell rang. A glance at her watch told her that it had to be Garcia with Henry, as it was shortly after eight.

Getting up and wiping the tears form her face, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

"Oh my God, the baby!" Her thoughts and her heart began to race. The doorbell rang again, accompanied by heavy knocks, and JJ walked over to the door, holding her belly as the pain waved periodically through her body.

Wincing, she opened the door, and was barely able to greet Garcia, let alone take Henry into her arms. Penelope noticed immediately that something was off.

"What's wrong, JJ?" Seeing her friend's hands on her stomach, she asked worriedly: "Is it the baby? Is something wrong with the baby?"

"I don't know," JJ pressed out.

"Okay, we gotta get you to the hospital. Now!"

Setting down Henry for a moment, she quickly helped JJ into her coat, grabbed her purse and Henry again and rushed them to the car.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The drive home went by in silence for most part. Rossi felt bad for lying to his mother. JJ was right, there was nothing he deserved more than a few earnest spanks with her rolling pin.

He was in deep thought, his eyes strictly focused on the street in front of him, but he couldn't bring himself to tell his mother the truth, because, frankly, the last thing he wanted in addition to the current situation, was a disappointed mother. There was nothing worse for him than to let the only woman down, who had always supported and loved him unconditionally, and who, besides Jennifer, was more important to him than anyone else.

His first marriage, and respectively, his first divorce came to his mind. It was over twenty-five years ago, but his mother would still get mad at him sometimes for how he had screwed up. Never before and never after had he cheated on a woman, he had been in a relationship with.

Joanna, his first wife, was the only one of the three wives his mother had taken into her heart, and while he – in one way or another – had loved all three of his wives, his mother had never warmed up to the other two. His marriage with Joanna was already falling apart, and it was only a matter of time before they would have separated, when he had made that one, very drunken mistake that pulled the trigger for Joanna to end their marriage sooner rather than later. At times, he would still feel genuinely ashamed of what he had done. When his mother had learned about it, she was angrier at him than he'd ever seen her before, and not only because she had loved Joanna like an own daughter, but especially because this was not how she had raised her son. Ever since then, Dave had felt more sorry for failing his mother than he felt for losing his wife.

And he could only imagine how his mother would react if she were to realize what was going on between him and Jennifer, that he was her baby's father and had abandoned her. Her fury at his cheating years ago would be reduced to a minor nuisance in comparison to how she would react if she knew the truth now. And he was certain that this was something she would never forgive him, if he didn't find a way to make it right.

"What are you thinking about, son?" Gracia Rossi suddenly interrupted the silence.

"Oh, nothing." Dave quickly answered, too quickly to be convincing.

"Don't lie to me, Davey. It's obvious that something's bothering you."

"Really, Mama, I'm fine. I was just thinking," he tried to reassure her.

"About that beautiful young woman we've met earlier?"

Tightening his grip around the steering wheel, he felt like he wanted to curse her for her intuitive perception. Sometimes he really wondered if his mother wasn't the better profiler after all. It was a mere wonder that she didn't already sense there was something wrong between him and JJ.

"Mama, I don't want to talk about it now." He tried to brush her off.

"You like her," his mother stated matter-of-factly.

"What?"

Gracia Rossi looked at her son and eyed him closely as she continued to speak. "She is a wonderful young woman." He detected a warmth in her voice that he hadn't heard since Joanna when it came to one of the women in his life. And, as usual, she was right, of course. His expression softened as he saw the beautiful face of Jennifer Jareau in the mind's eye, letting his mother know that she was indeed on the right track.

"You're in love with her, son. You have that look again. Why don't you ask her out?"

"It's not that simple."

"Where's the problem, Davey? You've never had any problem with approaching a woman before, more often than not much to my chagrin, I might add."

"Mama, please, just leave it alone, will you?" Dave sighed.

"But she said herself that she's alone. Or are you having problems because she's expecting a child from another man?" His mother wouldn't give up that fast.

Cringing at her words, Rossi only shook his head. "God help me if she knew!" He thought.

"My priorities are with other things at the moment. There's a lot going on at work right now that takes up my full attention." He hoped that this would get her off of him.

"It does not change the fact that you love her, son," Gracia Rossi insisted.

Rossi let out a breath of relief when he saw his mother's place appear in front of them and their talk was cut short. He helped her out of the car and walked her to the door, before making his goodbyes.

"We're not finished talking about this, Davey," she said, as he softly kissed her cheek.

"For today we are. I gotta go home and get some work for my new book done."

"Work. That's all you have in mind lately. It would do you good to focus on other things again."

"Bye, Mama." He kissed her other cheek and went back to his car.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: I am extremely sorry about the slow updates to this story. I wanted to have this chapter up days ago, but I threw away two drafts, because I didn't like the way they came out, and I have to admit that I'm still not fully content with it now. I'll try to do my best and update more regularly from now on. **_

_**Anyway, please let me know what you think!**_

Chapter 10

When Rossi arrived at the office after the weekend, he wasn't in a very good mood, pretty much like most of the time during the past months. He didn't get a lot of writing done, because he couldn't focus on anything else besides Jennifer. His mind wandered to her every few minutes and he even debated with himself more then once to call her, had even dialed her number a few times, but in the end he couldn't bring up the courage to pull through with it.

Grumpily, he sat down between Morgan and Prentiss as the team gathered for a short meeting in the BAU room.

"Where's JJ?" Morgan asked as Garcia, who was the last to come in, closed the door behind her.

"She's in hospital." Garcia answered, sitting down next to him.

"What?" Everyone exclaimed and Rossi felt his heart sink.

"It's nothing too serious, don't worry. Though, the doctor kept her there as a precaution."

"What happened?" Hotch's voice was filled with deep concern, as was his and everybody else's faces.

"I was babysitting Henry on Saturday, so that JJ could do some Christmas shopping, and when I brought him back to her, she felt some sharp pain in her stomach. I rushed her to the hospital at once, and they diagnosed her with being in early labor. The doctor gave her medication against it and they were able to stop the contractions. Baby Jareau luckily decided to keep his apartment for now. She will have to stay in the hospital until tomorrow or Wednesday, but she's determined to be back next Monday."

"Why didn't she call us earlier? Or why didn't you?" Prentiss asked.

"I wanted to, but I had to promise her not to. She said, she wanted some time for herself. To think. And after we had a long talk, I agreed with her." Garcia shot Rossi a deadly glare, which left no doubt that JJ had told her everything.

As the others kept asking Garcia questions, Rossi simply sat in his chair, his face buried in his hands.

"This is all my fault," he thought gloomily, "meeting my mother and all was too much for her."

"I have to go see her," he suddenly called out, jerking his head up, and began to rise from his seat.

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Hotch said uneasily.

"I want to see her, too," Reid threw in, and Morgan, and Prentiss nodded in agreement.

Contemplating about it for a few seconds, Hotch gave in. "Fine, let's go," he said, and held Rossi back, as he wanted to rush out of the room with the others.

"I'm warning you, Dave. Don't upset her any more than she already is."

They both made their way out as well and saw Garcia waiting for them.

"I'll ride with Agent Rossi. Why don't you get into the other car with the rest, boss?"

Raising his eyebrows, Hotch realized as well that Garcia was aware of the full story. "I think I'll better ride with you, before you kill him."

Down in the parking garage, Garcia pushed Rossi into the backseat of one of the Bureau's SUV's and slipped inside next to him. As soon as Hotch started to drive, she started smacking Rossi's arm hard.

"How could you? What were you thinking?" She screeched.

"Ouch, damn, Garcia. Stop it!"

"Thank God, we're on our way to a hospital," Hotch muttered dryly. "You might need it, Dave."

"Garcia, let me explain." Rossi tried to shield himself from her attack.

"That's not necessary, JJ already told me everything. And, for the record, you are now on top of my least favorite people list. Above Chief Strauss!" Garcia bit out. It was only due to JJ's interference that she hadn't already shown up on Rossi's doorstep at the weekend to make a living hell out of his life. "Do you even realize what you've done to her? I mean, have you looked at her at all in the past months? She looks like death on legs, with her pale face and the tired eyes, and it's entirely your fault! I really don't understand why she kept defending you in front of me."

"Garcia-," Rossi started, but she didn't let him finish.

"You don't get to say anything now!" Leaning to the front, she continued in Hotch's direction. "I hope you agree with me that he will not get to be in the same room as my little gumdrop!"

"Garcia, I need to talk to her!" Rossi threw in.

"Oh, I don't think so! According to JJ you've already said everything you needed to say."

"Please! I know that all I did was wrong, I won't deny it and look for excuses, but I also did a lot of thinking over the last weeks, and I need to make it right. I need to try at least." Rossi's voice sounded more desperate than he had intended to, and more than Hotch had ever heard from him.

"Dave, you have to admit that Garcia has a point. There's no way I'm going to let you upset JJ even more."

"Aaron, I understand, and I don't want to upset her either, but I really need to apologize. I have to try!" Rossi sighed.

*********

They arrived at the hospital ten minutes later. The others were already waiting for them in the entrance hall, and Garcia led them to JJ's room. Knocking shortly, she opened the door, and they all went in.

They found JJ sitting in her hospital bed with Henry sitting in her laps and a storybook in her hands. The doctor and nurses had hesitated at first, when JJ requested to have her son with her, but they had quickly given in upon her insisting threats that it was either this or she would discharge herself from the hospital.

A bright smile appeared on JJ's face when she saw the team come in, but it disappeared just as quickly, as she noticed that Rossi was with them.

Seeing Henry made Rossi's heart beat faster. He hadn't seen the little boy in quite a while, and he just realized now how much he had missed him and his cheerful squeaks. He briefly wondered if the boy had already forgotten who he was, when Henry suddenly held his little arms out in Rossi's direction and squealed with glee: "Da-da!"

JJ froze in shock, which didn't go unnoticed by the others, and Rossi felt even more uncomfortable to he here than before.

Exchanging questioning looks with Reid and Prentiss, Morgan was about to comment on that, but JJ spoke first. "Garcia, would you take Henry outside, please?"

"Sure," Garcia nodded, taking Henry out of her friend's arms and made her way to the door, not without shooting Rossi another warning glare.

"How are you, JJ?" Prentiss asked then.

"I'm fine. The doctor managed to stop the early labor, but I'm supposed to rest until the end of the week." With an apologetic look on Hotch, she added: "I'm going to have to be on desk duty until my maternity leave as well."

"Don't worry, JJ, That's not going to be a problem." Hotch dismissed her worries gently.

They all fell silent for a moment, and a sudden tension filled the air as Rossi began to speak. "Listen, JJ. Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" He asked softly, and immediately felt Hotch's hand on his arm, trying to hold him back.

"Dave-," he began, but was interrupted by JJ.

"I don't think you and I have anything else to say to each other." Her voice was bitter and sad, as was the expression on her face.

"Please, JJ. Jennifer. I'm so sorry. Let me apologize."

"I don't want to hear it, David," JJ burst out loudly.

"Please ..."

"Dave, that's enough!" Hotch interfered roughly, as a nurse came in.

"People, if you are going to upset her any more, you'll have to go. Ms. Jareau needs to rest and avoid stress as much as possible. I'm not sure we will be able to stop early labor a second time around."

Hotch grabbed Rossi by the arm and dragged him to the door.

"Wait! What's all that supposed to mean?" Morgan asked, switching confused looks between JJ and the men at the door.

"I guess it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Prentiss supplied as it dawned her. "Rossi is the father of your child, am I right, JJ?"

The blonde woman in the hospital bed nodded.

"What?" Morgan and Reid exclaimed at the same time.

"You son of a bitch!" Morgan yelled, storming towards Rossi.

"Now, everyone, please!" The nurse tried to calm them all down. "Remember what I just said and take it outside, will you?"

Hotch pulled Rossi out of the room, quickly followed by Morgan. Without saying another word, Morgan's fist connected with Rossi's jaw, and Hotch needed to pull all his strength to prevent the younger man from inflicting more damage.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Stop it, Morgan!" Hotch yelled at the younger man when he tried to attack Rossi again. Rossi simply stood there without moving a single bone, staring down on the floor, knowing exactly that he deserved every single punch.

"Hotch, are you seriously defending him? Didn't you see what JJ's been looking like in the past couple of months?" Morgan glared at his boss with dark eyes.

"Believe me, Morgan, I am not. But we're in a hospital here, if you haven't noticed!" Hotch answered in a warning tone, throwing a look at the nurse, who came out of JJ's room.

"We can as well take it outside then," Morgan replied, taking a step toward Rossi and grabbed him by the neck. "What is wrong with you, man?" He hissed dangerously, surprised that Rossi wouldn't even try to defend himself, that he didn't even bother to look at him.

"What, now you don't even have one single word to say about this?" Morgan shook his head contemptuously before he continued. "I always thought you were a decent man, but obviously, I was wrong." Loosing his grip on Rossi's shirt, he added: "You know what? You're not worth for me to get my hands dirty on you." He turned away and walked back into JJ's room.

When Rossi wanted to follow him, Hotch held him back.

"Maybe you should go out and take a walk until everybody's calmed down a bit."

Rossi nodded silently, and trudged away slowly, followed by Hotch's concerned glances, passing Garcia, who just came back with Henry on her arms. The little boy immediately squeaked out for Rossi again, but he only gave him a weak and sad smile, before going out of the building.

*********

Back inside JJ's room, Prentiss was just starting to interrogate her on Rossi, when Hotch, Garcia, and Henry came back in.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier? I mean, we all saw how hard the last months were for you, and we asked you all the time if you're okay. Why didn't you say something? We would have done anything to help you!"

JJ sighed deeply. She was relieved that the truth was finally out, but she knew it would not make things easier. Far from it! She was sure that it would bring an immense amount of tension into their close team unit that would complicate matters even more.

"Em, this is between Rossi and me. It had and has nothing to do with the team."

Morgan frowned. "Excuse me, JJ, but I think it does. Don't you think it affects us, too, when two people on our team suddenly share more than just work?"

"Derek, I understand that, but please, let me explain, okay?"

Seeing them nod in agreement, she went on.

"Hotch, Rossi and I agreed that it would be for the best if we didn't tell you. We have to work together, and we can't afford to let tensions between us ruin our success in solving cases."

"Wait," Emily interrupted, turning to Hotch. "You knew about this?"

The Unit Chief nodded.

"Why did he know, and we didn't?" She went on, clearly annoyed about it.

"As your boss and head of this team, I'm sure you all understand that it is my right and my duty to know what's going on among my staff," Hotch tried to explain.

"Right, but we're all friends, not just colleagues, we're like family. Don't you think we have the same right to know?" Prentiss wouldn't give up so fast, but JJ intervened.

"Emily. Please. It was not Hotch's fault that we didn't tell you. I had asked him to keep it quiet."

"But why?" Reid asked, speaking for the first time since they were all back in the room.

"I wanted to keep you from harassing Dave. We still have to work together!" JJ said emphatically.

"What exactly did he actually do?" Reid wanted to know then.

"Yeah," Morgan agreed. "What is it? We surely wouldn't be standing here like that if you two were excited at the prospect of becoming parents."

JJ looked away. For some reason, she didn't want to give Dave away to them. There was no way that Morgan would let him live if he knew the exact events and the exact words that Rossi had said.

"Guys, please. Can we just say that my pregnancy wasn't exactly planned and that we have certain disagreements about this child, and leave it at that?"

"What are you saying Jayje? He doesn't want to have this child?"

JJ let out another deep sigh.

"Jayje, I think we deserve to know!"

Now, also Garcia spoke. "I think they do. It's only fair that you tell them what you told me, gumdrop. We're only here to help you, and I think we can do best if everybody's aware of the entire circumstances."

Closing her eyes for a few seconds, JJ finally agreed. "On one condition, though. You have to promise me that you won't hurt him. Because, when we're speaking about family here, you shouldn't forget that he is a part of this team, this family as well."

"Just spill it, JJ," Morgan pushed impatiently.

"I have a feeling that he won't be a part of this family anymore before long," Emily muttered under her breath, which didn't go unnoticed by her blonde team member in the bed.

"Em, you started insisting to know the whole truth because we're all family. I agree on that, but I also have to say that you can't just throw someone out of a family, just because he did something wrong."

Hotch listened in surprise. Already knowing all the details, it was really astonishing that JJ would defend Rossi so much. It also told him that her feelings for his friend ran still deeper than she would probably admit, to herself or to anyone else. And it was also a sign for him to realize with quite a bit of relief that there was a good chance they would all make it out of this mess alive, stronger and closer before. But first they would have to go through the pain of learning the truth.

JJ took a deep breath and then began to explain everything. With every word she said, her teammates' faces grew angrier and darker. There was a long silence when she ended.

"Son of a bitch!" Morgan blew out loudly after a while.

"I can't believe how Agent Rossi could do this," Reid muttered in disbelief, unconsciously switching to the formal address of their colleague currently fallen in disgrace again, even though it had been quite a while since even Reid had overcome his hero-worship complex with the older man and had started using his first name.

"I'm going to kill this guy when he comes back," Prentiss pressed out.

"Guys, please, listen to me," JJ began to speak again. "I don't want you to harm him."

"How can you defend this bastard after all he's done to you?" Emily couldn't believe her ears.

"I'm not defending him!"

"Sounds like it," Morgan threw in.

"Again, this is between Dave and me. We are going to work something out, and until we do, I beg you to leave him alone. I don't want this to destroy our unit, our family," JJ pleaded them to understand.

"JJ's right," Hotch finally interfered. " We can't afford losing another member of this team. Just look at it from the point of view of our work. We've never been more successful at solving crimes than with this team, in this constellation. We won't be able to keep that up if we let our anger on one of us overwhelm us."

Deep down they all knew JJ and Hotch were right.

"I don't like this. At all!" Prentiss said. "I can keep working with him, I'm professional enough. But let me be very clear that he will know where my loyalties lie," she added. Morgan and Reid agreed.

"I appreciate that," JJ smiled for the first time during this discussion. "But I ask you to let me and Rossi work things out alone. I promise that I will tell you if I need your help, but as the parents of this child, we will have to find a way to get things straight, all right?"

They all nodded hesitantly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Stepping out of the hospital, Rossi didn't really know where to go. He didn't care anyway.

His mind raced around thoughts about JJ, the baby, and Henry. He felt like he was only a bystander watching his own life running past him, and he couldn't seem to get a hold of it anymore. It was as if he had lost control over everything, and losing control was something he was definitely not used to. He needed to get it back, at least the control over his emotions.

Everything could be so much easier if he hadn't feelings for Jennifer and the children. He could just walk away and not care about what everyone else thought of him. But it didn't work this way, not this time around. This time, he had too many feelings invested himself to be able to just let go.

Breathing in the cool November air, Rossi walked down the streets without looking around. He didn't know how long of far he had been going, but when he stopped and raised his head for the first time, he saw that he was standing in front of a church.

"Funny," he thought, wondering, "how I always end up at a place like this, when I've got problems."

Hesitating for a short moment, he climbed up the stairs and went inside. He was not sure if he could find the answers he was looking for in here, but the quiet and sacred atmosphere of a church had always helped him to clear his mind when he needed time to think.

Once again he was grateful for his catholic upbringing, having given him a place to go whenever he needed to find peace and quiet, even if he hadn't been a good boy. And now it was not about being a bad boy who had played stupid pranks on his neighbors or the girls. This time he had really screwed up.

He went to the front and lit a candle before sitting down.

Leaning back, he stared at the altar, trying to sort his thoughts. They were still racing around in his head, making him feel dizzy.

"God, if I'm already feeling sick, I can't even imagine what Jennifer must feel like."

He remembered seeing her in this hospital bed, pale and tired, much like she had looked over the last months, and he had had to fight the urge to pull her into his arms, and tell her that everything would be okay. Would it really? Would everything be okay? Would he be able to make things right? He didn't know, wasn't sure if she would ever let him, but right here in that church, he realized that he would do everything within his power to correct his mistakes. Because in that moment he fully understood for the first time what it meant for him and his life if Jennifer and the children - both their unborn one and Henry - wouldn't be in it. And it was not a pleasurable thought.

He had theoretically known over the last months that they would be out of reach for him if he didn't watch out, but so far he hadn't fully grasped what it meant if they were gone. Now he did. He could see himself sitting alone in his dark house, bitter and jaded, with no one there but a bottle of Scotch. He would end up like a crazy old fool, hating himself for all the lost chances in his life. Shaking his head, he corrected himself: "I already hate myself anyway."

How did he become such a jerk? Needless to say that he wished Morgan had punched him harder. It was about time someone did it, there was nothing he deserved more right now. How could he ever have been so stupid to say he was not ready to be a father? With everything he had said to Jennifer, he knew it wouldn't be easy to get her to listen to him.

But that reminded him of one of his most prominent character traits: His stubbornness. He would not give up until she was willing to let him be a part of their lives. Because he loved her, and he loved Henry, and he already loved their baby. He couldn't believe it took him so long to get to that point, and now he could only hope that he was able to get Jennifer to let him in again, and that he wasn't too late.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Arriving back at the hospital, Rossi took one last deep breath before he knocked on JJ's door. He was certain that the rest of the team were still there, making sure that JJ was okay, and he hoped they would let him speak with her.

Slowly opening the door, he was immediately greeted by the dirty looks of his colleagues. Mirroring in their eyes was not only anger, but also, and even more, overwhelming disappointment in him. He wanted to explain himself to all of them, but he knew had to take one step at a time. And right now, his main priority were Jennifer and the baby. And Henry, he added in his mind, as the little boy began to squeal for him again the moment he saw him.

"Jennifer," he said softly. "Can I talk to you?"

JJ closed her eyes for a moment, wondering if she was already strong enough to face him.

"What could you possibly have to say, Rossi?" Prentiss hissed, and also Morgan was about to make a remark, when JJ finally spoke, her voice sounding more firm than she actually felt. "Okay."

"Fine, but we're not leaving this room," Morgan threw in.

"Derek, please. I told you this was between me and him, and no one else," JJ reasoned, squeezing her friend's hand. As much as she loved all of them, she knew that she and Rossi would be able to talk a lot more freely with none of them monitoring every single word.

There was also something she felt deep down inside that she couldn't quite determine. Hope maybe, that there was a future waiting for her and Dave together.

"No," she scolded herself. "Don't even think about it. Too much has occurred between us to make it go away with a few words." But if they could come out of it with some amicable agreement, it would lift a heavy burden off her shoulders.

"JJ, are you sure you're up for this?" Garcia asked.

"I am," JJ answered. "Please give us a few minutes, guys," she went on.

"Okay, but you call us in if anything goes wrong!" Garcia insisted, bending over to take Henry out of JJ's arms. When the boy realized that he was being carried out of the room again, he began to cry, reaching out his hands to Dave, who wanted nothing more than to take him into his arms, but didn't dare do so, as he wasn't sure how JJ would react.

"It's okay, Pen, he can stay with me." JJ took him back, and Henry calmed down a bit, though he was still clearly trying to get a hold of Rossi.

"Sure?" Garcia said with a suspicious glance at Rossi.

JJ nodded.

"Fine, we'll be waiting outside then," Hotch concluded, leading the others toward the door. Leaning down on Rossi, he whispered in passing. "Don't push it, Dave! You're skating on thin ice here!" Rossi nodded and was relieved when the door finally closed behind them.

He had watched the byplay between Morgan, Prentiss, Garcia, and JJ with interest, but also with the urge to intervene, but for once he knew when to keep his mouth shut. He knew it was good for her that their friends were having her back unconditionally, even though it was on his expense, but he didn't care, he didn't have the right to complain about that. What made him kind of happy as well was the fact that she had obviously defended him against them. It only added to the high opinion he already had of her, and he felt quite ashamed again that he had shown her pretty much the opposite with his behavior. Why she would defend him after everything he had done, was something he would never understand, if he didn't know that it was just her wonderful and generous character that couldn't help but do so.

"May I sit?" He asked politely, pointing at a chair next to JJ's bed.

"Sure."

As soon as he sat down, Henry held his hands out again, squirming in his mother's grip, wanting to be on Rossi's lap. Rossi looked at JJ and saw her reluctance, which he could very much understand. Before he could think about it, however, he asked. "Can I hold him for a moment, please?"

JJ's heart clenched when she saw how desperate her son wanted to be with the one man that had hurt her more than anyone before. It was amazing how Henry reacted to Rossi despite the fact that he hadn't seen him for six months. The time Rossi had spent with him before was obviously deeply engraved in the little boy's heart, and JJ realized again how wonderful and gentle the older man had been with him. If there was one thing she was sure about at the moment then it was knowing that Rossi would never deliberately hurt her son.

"Only for a minute, Rossi," she whispered eventually, letting Henry crawl over her legs toward Rossi.

Scooping him up, Rossi felt Henry's little arms around his neck momentarily. He held him close, happy to have him in his arms after such a long time, but when he saw the tears in JJ's eyes, he realized how hard it had to be for her, seeing her son unconsciously betraying her in his innocent moves.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer." His voice was breaking, when he started to speak.

"Dave-"

"No, wait, please!" He tried not to get too loud, clearing his throat before he continued. "I really am. I am so sorry for everything I've done. For everything I've put you through." He sounded quite desperate.

"Dave, do you really think you can come in here, say you're sorry, and assume that everything will be fine?"

"No, but Henry-"

"Don't you dare use Henry! Let me be very clear. The fact that Henry apparently loves to be with you does not automatically mean that I am going to do the same. And I would strongly advise you not to use my son, for anything. This has nothing to do with him, so keep him out of your argumentation!" She burst out louder and more forcefully than she had intended.

"I won't, I promise, but hear me out, okay?"

Seeing JJ nod, he went on.

"I'm only here to apologize. I know it takes more than that to make things right, but I hope that it's a start. I know I screwed up, and I don't think that there are words to describe how much I regret everything that's happened over the past months."

Noticing her flinch, he realized the mistake in his words, but before he could straighten it out, JJ already snapped against him. "Well, you've already made it very clear that you regret having this baby, haven't you. No need to say it again!"

"Jennifer, I'm sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant to say was that if I could go back to the moment you told me you were pregnant, and do things differently from then on, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I want you and this baby! And Henry!" Rossi pleaded.

JJ's eyes filled with even more tears. "I'm sorry, Dave, but after all you said and did I find that a bit hard to believe," she replied bitterly.

Rossi lowered his head, trying hard to find the right words that would make her see he was serious.

"I knew you would say this, and I know that I can't ask you to believe me, and take me back, but all I want is a chance. A chance to prove to you that I am serious. A chance to be a father."

This was what she wanted, wasn't it? That he would come around and accept his father-role. Looking into his eyes, she knew he was sincere. Nevertheless, there was a long silence before she continued to speak.

"David. I need time. I need time to think about everything," she said slowly.

"But you promise me, you'll give me a chance?" He asked hopefully.

"I can't promise you anything right now, David. I want to work things out with you. I really do. But I will need time."

Dave nodded. If this was all he could get for now, he'd take it.

"Can you promise me one thing, Jennifer?"

"Dave, I just said-"

"I know what you said. Just one thing. If you need any help, with anything and whatever it is, please let me help, okay?" Knowing that he wouldn't give up, she agreed, watching him again as he gently stroked over Henry's hair.

Dave was good for Henry, that much was clear. She had already known that, remembering all those nights that he was with her and her son when Will had left them and Henry couldn't seem to fall asleep without Dave around. It was also part of the reason why those last months were so hard on her, because it was becoming quite a task to put Henry down for the night, when he was screaming for Dave, and JJ realized that she didn't want to take him away again from her son.

At the same time she didn't want Henry to get hurt in the process, and while she knew that Dave would never deliberately do so, she still wasn't sure if she could risk Henry becoming a casualty if things didn't work out between her and Dave. The risk to let Dave in was extremely high, but keeping her son away from him wasn't fair to the boy either. Henry loved Dave too much, and looking into Dave's face, she saw that these feelings were returned.

"About Henry," JJ began again after a few minutes.

"I would never hurt Henry!" Dave threw in.

"I know that, Dave. I'm just not sure if I am comfortable with him calling you Dada."

"I didn't tell him to do so!" Dave's tone became a bit impatient.

"Again, Dave, I know that! Will you let me speak, please?"

"I'm sorry," Dave mumbled.

"I was just saying that I don't want you to encourage this." Seeing Dave's questioning eyes, she added. "I'm okay with you being Uncle Dave. If he wants to see you, I guess I'm fine with that, but I want you to make sure you're Uncle Dave, and not his father!"

"But JJ, if he wants-"

"That's my only offer, Dave. Take it or leave it."

This was definitely not what Rossi wanted, but he knew he shouldn't press his luck today. Nodding he said. "I accept that for now, but let me make one thing clear, Jennifer. I will never give up trying to convince you that I can and will be a good father to both Henry and our baby!"

* * *

_**A/N: Whoa, two chapters in one day, I'm quite content with myself now. Please let me know what you think, I really hope I'm still convincing with this. **_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

JJ was back at her desk one week later. The team had visited her after she'd returned home from hospital to see if she needed any help, each time without Rossi. They had simply refused to ask him if he wanted to come along, partly because they didn't to spend any more time with him than absolutely necessary, and partly because they feared it would upset JJ too much if he was there.

Rossi himself didn't want to impose, so he didn't say anything, knowing that if JJ needed his help she would not forget her promise and ask him. He wanted to start things slowly, primarily because he feared that if he pushed too hard and went too fast, she would shut him out completely. So he settled with calling her every other night to hear how she and Henry were doing, and if the baby was okay.

The calls were a bit awkward, as they both didn't really know what to say and JJ hesitated from engaging herself in the same deep conversations she had had with David before her pregnancy, but she also felt that she was loosen up more with each call. She didn't want to admit it, but it felt good to hear his voice, and she was grateful that he wasn't pushing too hard.

On her first day back, JJ spent great parts of the morning sitting in her office, waiting for each member of the team to pay her a visit. She had actually planned on catching up with her paperwork which had piled up on her desk, but when Prentiss rushed in barely five minutes after she got settled, she knew she would not have a quiet morning.

It didn't take more than ten minutes after Emily had left that Morgan knocked on her door, asking the same questions: "How are you? Are you sure you're strong enough to be back? How's the baby?" After that it was Garcia, who – JJ had to give her credit for that – at least made her smile by bringing one of her trolls over from her lair to keep her company. A short time later, Reid showed up, rattling through statistics about the connection between working expectant mothers and early labor, and the risk of having another baby before due day after the first had been early. She didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but it only made her nervous, so needless to say he didn't last longer than five minutes inside before JJ threw him out with the threat of giving birth momentarily right in front of his eyes, if he did that again.

And as if JJ had known it, merely fifteen minutes later Hotch stopped by. Before he could even say a word, she blurted out: "I'm fine, Hotch. The baby's fine, Henry's fine, I'm well rested, I took all the meds the doctor prescribed, I had a decent breakfast, the coffee in this mug is decaf, and I have no plans whatsoever to leave this desk until the afternoon."

"It's all right, JJ." He couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle. So everyone else had already been there.

"I just came-"

"To check on me, I know. You're not the only one this morning. And I appreciate it, I really do, but as you can see I'm rather busy with all this paperwork here that's screaming for my attention, and I'd love to be done with it before midnight, which will be impossible, if one of you walks in here every five minutes."

Hotch lifted his hands in defeat. "Okay, I'll be back at my office then, if you need anything."

"Thanks, Hotch. And on you're way back, would you please tell the others that I don't want to see them again unless it's work related? I'm not sure if they understood me earlier. If there's anything I need, I'll call you."

"I will." With a wide grin he went out, closing the door behind him.

*********

JJ engaged herself in her files, and was relieved to be able to minimize the load step by step. She didn't notice how much time had gone by when she suddenly heard another knock on her door. Glancing at her watch she realized that it was already lunch time.

"Come in," she called out, a bit surprised that whoever was outside hadn't already simply entered without waiting for her signal, as it was usually the case.

The door opened slowly and Rossi stepped in, waiting between the door frame to see if she was okay with him being here.

"Hey, JJ," he began softly, relieved that she didn't throw him out right away. "I- I wanted to see if you're okay, and, uhm, maybe want to grab some lunch?"

JJ knew she shouldn't be surprised about his attempts, but for some reason she was anyway. Maybe it was because she'd rather expected Emily or Penelope to take her out on a lunch break, which, by the way, was something she hadn't scheduled for today, and had therefore brought her own food.

"Ehm, no thanks," she replied then, seeing the disappointment surfacing in his eyes.

"JJ. Jennifer, you need to eat and take a break. Think about the baby!" Rossi pushed as gently as he could.

"I brought my own lunch," JJ stated firmly, pointing at the brown paper bag on one of the free chairs next to her. "And I'm fairly able to take care of myself without your supervision," she added a bit more harshly than she had intended to.

Nodding, Rossi went on. "Anyway, I just came to see if you're okay."

"I am." JJ said shortly, trying to ignore the warm feeling in her stomach caused by his appearance and his concern.

"Okay, so I'll see you then." His whole body language made it clear that he didn't want to go just yet, but he respected her boundaries, and turned to walk out again.

"Let him go!" JJ told herself, but at the same time she heard her voice calling after him.

"Dave!" He quickly turned around and stepped back in, hope mirroring in his face.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you sit down with me for a minute?"

Smiling, he closed the door and took a seat in front of her desk.

JJ sighed deeply and began to speak: "I need you to listen to me, okay?"

The tone in her voice told him that he most likely wouldn't like what she was about to say. Nevertheless, he nodded.

"David, I appreciate your concern, but you have to trust me that I know what I'm doing here. This isn't my first child, remember? I'm able to take care of myself."

"I know that, JJ-"

"I wasn't finished."

He gestured her to go on.

"I need you to give me some space."

"Jennifer, I didn't-"

"Please, Dave. I know you want to make things up to me, but you hurt me too much to make me forget it just like that. We'll be seeing each other here at work every day, and that should be enough for you for now. I won't try to avoid you, as I did in the past months, but please don't push any harder. It was really nice of you to call me at home, and it's okay if you continue to do this every other day, but I'm still not ready to spend more time with you alone. Can you understand that?"

Lowering his head, he consented quickly.

"Give me some time to get used to you again." She looked at him intensely, asking herself if she was doing the right thing. She hated to see him so broken, but then, it was his own fault. For now it was best if she stood firm and ignored the butterflies that rushed through her whole body whenever she saw him. It was a good sign that it didn't hurt as much anymore when she looked at him, and it would also make working with him a lot easier, but she still had to guide her heart after everything he had done to her.

After a few moments of silence, Dave looked up again and smiled weakly.

"You look better, Jennifer. It's good to see you look better."

"Thanks, Dave. I feel a lot better. I hope we can work together more easily now."

"We can. I promise."

**********

Unfortunately for Rossi, this did not apply for his relationship with the rest of the team.

Of course, Hotch was as supportive of him and of JJ as ever, and Dave appreciated it a lot knowing that he hadn't lost his best friend, despite all of his mistakes, but Prentiss, Morgan, Reid, and Garcia were not as positive.

Sure, their work relationship remained professional, they worked their cases as usual, but apart from that, no one bothered to speak with Rossi.

They knew JJ had told them not to interfere in her and Rossi's business, she had also asked them not to shut their colleague out, but they couldn't help it. After hearing how much he had hurt their best friend and sister, it was simply impossible for them to look at Rossi the same way.

He had become a vital part of the team easily, someone they could all look up to and confide in, someone who would have their back unconditionally, and it had been more than just a shock to realize that he did not live up to the high expectations they'd built in him.

Rossi knew that they would need time, just as Jennifer, and he tried hard not to be affected too much by it. He had tried to explain himself and apologize a few times, but they would simply stand up and leave when he did it, so it was pretty much useless. And who was he to blame them? He had only to blame himself, so he simply kept doing his job, trying to ignore the fact that he was being ignored and shut out completely.

When they were away on cases, he mostly stayed in his hotel room alone, while the others were having dinner together, or going out bar hopping and clubbing after a case was closed. He tried to remind himself that he had always been a loner, that he liked being on his own, but the truth was that after coming back to the Bureau, and after working with them for two years, he enjoyed being part of a team, of a family even. He had finally belonged somewhere, and sitting alone in his hotel room or at home, he could no longer fool himself: He was lonelier than he had ever been in his entire life.

Above all, he missed JJ, missed talking to her. She had made it clear that she needed space, so he strictly stuck to calling her not more than twice a week. These phone calls were his highlights, especially when she allowed him to talk to Henry for a minute.

And while his relationship with Jennifer gradually and very slowly began to heal, he became more and more of an outsider to the rest, and it was something that even Hotch couldn't miss.

He was the only one who tried to spend time with Rossi, who tried to get him out for dinner, or brought dinner to his room.

"I could talk to them, you know," Hotch suggested, but was immediately held back by Rossi.

"Don't worry, Hotch, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. And this is not what JJ wanted. She didn't want you to be excluded, and I'm sure she didn't want you to exclude yourself."

"Again, Hotch, I'm fine. I deserve this."

"If she knew-"

"Then she'd be upset with them and I don't want her to worry about that, Aaron. Believe me, it's a good thing that she's not on the cases with us at the moment, and I'd appreciate it, if you didn't tell her. This is my own fault and my fight, and I don't want JJ to feel responsible for it."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was the beginning of December. The team was on a case again, on the opposite side of the continent. A serial rapist assaulting and murdering older women in retirement homes in Northern California was demanding their full attention.

There was still unresolved tension between Rossi and the others, but the better JJ seemed to get along with him, the more they loosened up. It was clear that they couldn't go on like this forever, the tension was wearing on all of them.

Reid was the first one to make a step toward Rossi. They were sent to inspect one of the crime scenes by Hotch, and were sitting in the car heading there, driving in silence at first, much like all the time in the past few weeks.

Rossi had tried to use those opportunities before to talk to them, but whoever he was driving with, they had just shut him up, so he was more than just a little bit surprised when Reid suddenly began to speak.

"Are you going to end up like Gideon?" He asked hoarsely.

"Excuse me?"

"Running away when it gets too much," Reid explained.

Rossi eyed him from the side. He knew Spencer suffered the most when Gideon had suddenly left the team, and he remembered his first weeks back, when Reid tried everything to get his attention, obviously searching for someone else to relate to after his mentor was gone. It took Rossi quite a while to warm up to the genius, but after some time, he had stepped up and taken Gideon's place. Rossi realized that even though Reid had grown up quite a bit over the years, he still feared nothing more than to be abandoned by someone he trusted. The way he, Rossi, had treated JJ had only added to this fear.

"I won't," Rossi simply stated.

"I'm sorry," Reid said then.

"What for?"

"For treating you so badly."

"It's okay, Reid. I deserved it. I was an ass, and now I have to live with the consequences, but it's nothing you have to apologize for." Rossi assured him, seeing him nod from the corner of his eye.

"Why did you do it? What made you hurt JJ so much?"

Rossi shrugged. "I don't know anymore. I'm an old bastard and I've finally realized it, but I don't have a proper explanation. At least not one that won't sound ridiculous, even in my own ears. All I know is that I'm going to have to make it right, and I will, but it would be great if you guys let JJ and me work things out by ourselves."

Reid knew he was right.

They fell silent for a moment and then Rossi said: "You know, I'm really thankful that you're all there for her. It's good to know that she has friends who stand behind her one hundred percent."

"What do you mean? You don't want to be there for her?" Reid was confused.

"No, that's not what I was implying. The thing is, I want to give her everything, but I'm not sure if she'll ever be ready to take it. It's just good to know that whatever happens, she won't be alone."

Reid nodded.

"I'm sure she'll let you in again. It's hard to miss the looks she gives you, when she thinks no one's watching. Even I see it, and everyone believes I'm blind to these things."

Rossi gave him an amused smirk, and wanted to add something, but they arrived at their crime scene and therefore had to focus on another subject.

*********

The case didn't take long to figure out, thanks to Rossi. Barely twenty-nine hours later, they had a suspect in custody, and the team decided to stay another night at the hotel and then fly back home the next morning.

Prentiss and Morgan noticed the change in behavior between Reid and Rossi, and cornered Spencer on the way up to their hotel rooms, but he brushed them off, saying that he didn't need to justify who he was with.

"All right then, see you for dinner in thirty minutes," Prentiss said, shrugging, before she went off to her own room, mumbling something about Reid being naive, leaving Morgan standing alone in the foyer.

As he decided not to freshen up before dinner, he made his way over to the hotel bar. There, alone at the bar he found Rossi sitting over a glass of Scotch. At first he wanted to go back out at once, but something made him stop.

The way Rossi sat there on his own reminded him of the day they had found him sitting at this bar in Indianapolis a few months after he had joined the team. He remembered that Rossi had come a long way since then. Rossi had been quite a challenge in the beginning, the concept of a team obviously pretty foreign to him. But they had shown him, had taught him what it meant to stick together, and what they could achieve if they worked as a unit. Morgan realized that a big part of his anger toward Rossi was because he seemed to spurn their team with his egotistical behavior, with his relapse into previous manner. To him it looked like as if the team had never meant anything to Rossi, even though deep down he knew that this was not true.

"Maybe we have to teach him again," Morgan thought to himself, walking over to where Rossi was sitting, sliding onto the stool next to him.

Dave had already sensed him stepping through the door, but he was surprised that Derek actually came over to him. He wanted to tell him to go away, but somehow, it felt good to have him by his side, even if he didn't know what was waiting for him.

Morgan ordered a beer, and they sat there in silence for quite some time, until the younger man began.

"You realize that I still want nothing more than to beat the crap out of you, Rossi, don't you?"

Rossi nodded.

"I know, and I deserve it, so feel free to do it anytime you want."

"Nah, don't be pathetic. You know, as much as I hate to say it, we need you, so it wouldn't make sense to kill you. You did a great job today. The team can't afford to lose you." Morgan eyed him silently from the side, and then added: "And judging from what you look like, you can't lose the team either."

There was another moment of silence.

"I never meant to hurt anyone. Especially not JJ." Rossi muttered then.

"Yeah, well you have a very unique way of showing us," Morgan retorted sarcastically.

"I know. And I'm really sorry about everything. But things got out of control before I even realized what was going to happen," Rossi confessed. "And it was too late, before I could regain the control."

"If that's supposed to be an explanation, I have to tell you, it's a pretty poor one." Morgan snorted.

"I know, but the thing is, I don't have a proper one. I only have my intent to make it up to each and every one of you. Especially JJ, of course."

"It won't be easy."

"No, it won't." Rossi said, downing the rest of his Scotch, and throwing a twenty dollar bill onto the counter, before getting up. Morgan grabbed his sleeve. "Listen, we, uhm, we're having dinner together at this little Italian restaurant around the corner. Wanna join us?"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

They walked into the restaurant five minutes later. Prentiss, Reid and Hotch were already seated at their table. When they saw Rossi following behind Morgan, all three of them were surprised.

Hotch mostly because it was Morgan, of all people, who brought Dave with him. He would have guessed that Reid would make the first attempts in letting Rossi back in again. Catching the slight smile on Spencer's face, Hotch realized that he and Rossi had indeed made their peace already.

Prentiss, however, couldn't believe her eyes. Her surprise turned into anger fairly quickly, when she, too, noticed Reid's smile. With Hotch being Rossi's closest friend, she knew that he was the only one in the past weeks to stand by Rossi's side, but she was quite pissed off that Morgan and Reid would stab her in the back like that.

"What's he doing here?" she hissed angrily.

"He's having dinner with us," Morgan answered dryly.

Rossi felt pretty uncomfortable. He understood their angry and negative behavior towards him, but the way Prentiss treated him had nothing to do with anger anymore. This was hostility. For some reason, the past events had hit her the hardest of all of them, besides JJ of course. Looking into her eyes, he saw the same pain, he had seen in JJ's eyes. It confused him quite a bit, because he knew she was not in love with him, unlike JJ. There had never been more than friendship between them, and while he could understand her anger over him having hurt one of her other best friends so deeply, it didn't make sense to him that she would react that way.

The look in her eyes told him that she was more than just a bit uncomfortable herself, having him around.

"You know, maybe I shouldn't have come," he muttered to Morgan, who was about to get a seat. "It's probably better if I go back to the hotel." He turned to leave again, but Morgan held him back.

"Wait. Sit down. We're all civilized enough to have dinner together, aren't we?" He shot Emily a warning look.

"Well, if the four of you are best friends again, then maybe I am no longer needed here," Prentiss said, getting up from her chair.

"Emily, wait!" Rossi stopped her.

"Don't you dare 'Emily' me, Rossi," she spat in his direction, glaring at him furiously.

"Maybe you two should clear the air as well," Hotch interfered. "I suggest you have a cup of coffee over at the bar and have a talk," he added, shooting them both a look that made it clear he would make this suggestion an order if necessary.

Rossi and Prentiss went through the restaurant and sat down at the bar. They ordered some Irish Coffee each and sat silently for quite a while, stirring their spoons in their cups. Rossi was the first to speak.

"Listen, Emily." He cleared his throat. "Prentiss, I'm really sorry about everything."

"Cut it off, Rossi. We'll just be sitting here until I'm sure I've calmed down enough to have dinner. You might as well save your breath for someone who's stupid enough to forgive you after all that you've done."

"Emily-"

"Don't say my name like that again!" She warned him.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand what's wrong with you. Why are you so extremely hostile?" Rossi tried to keep his voice as quiet as possible.

"Making my best friend suffer gives me a pretty good reason to be hostile, Rossi!"

"No, it doesn't. It's a reason to be angry, to be mad at me. I get that. But I can see it in your eyes. There's more to it. Your behavior gives you away, Emily."

"God, I hate profilers!" Emily muttered under her breath. A little bit louder, she said: "It's none of your business!"

"Yes, it is, when it's about me. Please tell me what it is, so that I can try to make it right!"

Prentiss fell silent and simply stared at him.

"You actually suggested to her that she should get an abortion?" She finally whispered, and Rossi immediately froze on his bar stool. This was a highly sensitive topic for Emily, and he knew instantly that something he had said must have touched that nerve, even though he didn't know what it was.

"I really thought better of you. You let me believe that you were a decent guy, but you're just another scumbag. I never thought you'd take this topic so lightly. Do you know how that makes me feel? It feels like I have been slapped in the face. I confided in you, you made me believe that you were my friend, but now I don't know anymore if you were serious then, or if you just made me tell you about my abortion, because you were looking for a crack in the case," she ranted out, tears glistering in her eyes.

"Prentiss. Emily," Rossi whispered, his voice cracking. "I am your friend. I was then and I am now. That is if you still let me." He took her hand and squeezed it tightly when he felt her pull away.

"But why would you say something like that to JJ? How could you demand from her to get rid of the baby?" Emily asked, realizing that she couldn't escape him.

"I never said anything like that to her. I swear!" Rossi pleaded.

"Yeah? That means one of you is lying then, because JJ told me differently. And I can say that I know JJ would never lie to me, but with you I'm not so sure anymore." She became more agitated, pulling her hand forcefully away from him.

"Look, I don't even remember what I said to her exactly, but I'm pretty sure that I never suggested anything like that!" Rossi raised his voice as well.

"Let me refresh your memory then. According to JJ, your exact words were ' What are you going to do about it?' How would you think that sounds in our ears? To me that's pretty obvious!"

Rossi ran a trembling hand over his face and through his hair. Looking away, he muttered quietly: "I didn't mean it. I swear. I never meant to even imply it. I was just so shocked about her confession, I didn't know what to say."

Prentiss stared at him coldly. "Well, you should learn to think before you speak!"

There were a few moments of silence between them again, before Rossi turned his head towards Prentiss, and whispered: "I'm sorry, Emily. I don't know what to say except for I'm sorry. I didn't even realize what I said to JJ, and I didn't know she had told you."

Emily's expression softened a bit at his gentle voice. "You know, it's just that I'm still not over it, and when I heard that you said these things to JJ, I guess I snapped. I told you about Rome because I thought I could trust you, because I knew you would never judge me for it, despite your catholic views. I just never thought that these views could appear to be fake."

"They aren't, Emily. You know that I've not always been a good Catholic. I've never followed all of the church's rules and I've bent quite a few of them to fit with my lifestyle, but there are still a few moral standards that I value very highly, and that I try to live by. And they include that I would never let anyone kill my unborn child. Don't get me wrong, I don't judge you, or anyone else, for having an abortion. I never have and I never will. I know that every woman who goes through that has a reason, and I would never allow myself to question that. You were young and confused, no one can blame you for what happened, and you should stop blaming yourself as well." Rossi explained quietly.

Emily sighed. "It's not that easy. Every time I see those college kids, I wonder how my child would be like today. When JJ says she wants to keep the baby's sex a surprise, I ask myself what I would have wanted. It tears me apart that I never even knew what I was having." She felt the tears running down her cheeks, and Rossi reached out to touch her hand again.

"I'm deeply sorry, Emily. Please believe me when I say that I never meant to hurt you or anyone."

"You have a really strange way of showing it."

"I know, but I'll make it up to all of you, I promise." He gave her a gentle smile.

"I'm still mad at you about JJ. Don't even think I'll let you off the hook so easily after everything you'd said and done to her."

"I'll make it up to her, too. I'll do anything to make her happy."

After a few seconds he added: "And I'll do anything to convince you of our friendship. I know it's hard for you at the moment, but if you ever need a friend, or need to talk, you can call me and I'll be there."

"We'll see about that."

They looked at each other, and for the first time in weeks, Prentiss smiled lightly at him.

"I don't know about you, but I could use some dinner now."

"Yeah, me too," Rossi smirked as they both got up from the bar. Pointing at her tear-stained face, he said: "Maybe you should go to the bathroom and refresh your makeup. I'd hate for Morgan to hit me again, because I made another woman he cares about cry."

Prentiss grinned.

"You should never make Garcia cry then. He wouldn't even bother to use his fists, but shoot you right away."

Rossi waited for her until she came back from the restrooms, and they both made their way back to the others.

"What took you so long?" Morgan asked when they appeared at the table. "We were almost starving here." Rossi and Prentiss both smiled, but didn't say anything.

"So, you're good now? We all good now?" Morgan continued.

"Not completely, but we're getting there." Prentiss answered, and they sat down to have a quiet, but nevertheless comfortable dinner.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The team arrived back in Quantico the following afternoon. For the first time in weeks they entered the bullpen together, with Rossi between them instead of five steps behind.

The flight home had been quiet, everyone was occupied with his own thoughts, and they didn't talk much, but the tension was gone. It would still take a while for everything to go back to normal, but at least now they were standing on common ground again.

"I'm going to see if there's some coffee left, before I hole up behind my paperwork," Morgan called out, going over to the break corner of the bullpen.

"That's not such a bad idea," Rossi agreed, following him. He was in a much better mood than he had been in a long time, finally being able to breathe again, as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest.

It didn't last long, though.

Walking around the corner, he stopped tracks as he was greeted with a sight that made his heart stop for a moment. Leaning on the kitchen counter was JJ, _his Jennifer_, with "pretty face" Agent Anderson right next to her, both smiling brightly at each other as Anderson had his hand on JJ's belly! _On his baby!_

The wave of jealousy that rushed through his body almost knocked him off his feet.

"Oh, hey, you're back!" JJ welcomed them as she saw them enter.

Rossi's heart began to pound loudly in his chest. Seriously, she can't be... He couldn't finish that thought. As a matter of fact, he wasn't able to think straight anymore. What was happening here? He had thought he and Jennifer were on the way to recovery, they were making progress in narrowing the gap between them! Irrationality began to take over, and he burst out loudly: "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Excuse me?" JJ froze where she was standing, the smile gone from her face within a millisecond.

Morgan threw confused looks around, not immediately comprehending what was going on. Before he could ask, Rossi yelled again, this time at Anderson: "Get the hell away from Jennifer and my child!"

Anderson's face could be best described with intimidated, as Rossi took few steps towards him. JJ recovered from her temporary frozen state and stepped between them. "Just what the hell do _you_ think you're doing, Rossi?" she shouted angrily.

"What the fuck's going on between you and this...this-?" Rossi glared furiously at her, not able to finish his question.

"Yo, Chief, back off!" Morgan interfered, but fell on deaf ears with Rossi.

"Why is he touching _my _baby?" Rossi became more and more agitated, as JJ's eyes nearly popped out of her head at his question.

"Stop yelling at me, Rossi! Who do you think you are, huh? You have no right to react like that!" she screamed back at him.

"The hell I have! This is my baby, and I have every right in the world-"

"Okay, stop it now! Both of you!" Morgan intervened, pulling Dave back on his arm.

Meanwhile, Hotch, Prentiss and Reid had come over as well, attracted by the noise. JJ and Rossi however had no intention of stopping their fight.

"How dare you, Rossi?" JJ spat out. "You are not in any position to ask me those kind of questions, especially not in that tone!"

"Dave, what are you doing?" Hotch asked.

Rossi turned around and snapped at him, Reid, and Prentiss. "Get the hell out of here! This is none of your business!"

"It is, when you're upsetting JJ again!" Hotch retorted.

Focusing on JJ again, Rossi shot out: "The baby's not even here, and you're already hooking up with someone else?"

JJ couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had let herself believe that maybe finally things were on the mend between her and Rossi, and then he came here and screwed them again. Shooting him dangerous glares, she was about to shout back, when Hotch tried to reach for Rossi's arm, but was slapped away by him.

"Dave, if you value your life, I'd strongly suggest you shut up now!" he warned, preparing himself for physically removing his friend from the breakroom if he was not willing to come with him. Seeing the tears begin to form in JJ's eyes, he made a second attempt at grabbing Rossi. "Let's get out of here, Dave. You better go back to your office until you're calmed down, and when you did so, I want to see you and JJ in my office in fifteen minutes!" He and Morgan dragged Rossi out, and Emily went over to JJ and embraced her in a tight hug.

"You really know how to mess things up, don't you, Rossi?" she yelled after him.

And then Rossi froze in his tracks as he heard the most determined voice he knew and that he'd never imagined to hear at the BAU.

"What have you done now, son?"

Spinning around, he saw that his ears hadn't been deceiving him. His mother was stepping out of the elevator and walking over to where he, Hotch, and Morgan were standing, carrying a plate with a cake in her hands.

"I thought you could use a surprise when Davey told me on the phone that you were coming back from a case this afternoon, but I have a feeling that I am interrupting something serious here." Gracia Rossi looked around, and her eyes fell on a crying JJ. Furrowing her brows, she repeated her question, this time with even more force behind it.

"What have you done, David Rossi?"

And right in this moment, Rossi realized that he was doomed.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Mama, what are you doing here?" Rossi asked surprised.

"Don't change the subject, son! Tell me right now what you've done to make that poor woman cry!" Mrs. Rossi's voice began to sound impatiently, as the whole bullpen had fallen silent and interrupted their work to curiously watch the exchange between mother and son.

JJ, too, had now recognized Rossi's mother. "Oh God!" she groaned softly, realizing at once that the moment of truth had finally come for Mrs. Rossi. She had tossed the thought of telling her about the baby in her head more than once in the past weeks, but she'd still wanted to be better with Dave, before doing so, and her ideas for letting the bomb explode did definitely not include doing it in the middle of the bullpen with all of their coworkers as an audience. In fact, she'd already briefly talked with Rossi about it on the phone, but they'd both agreed on discussing this in person at a later point.

Seeing the determined expression on the elderly lady's face, she knew there was no way they could avoid this topic today. Nevertheless, she chose to stay right where she was, wanting to watch how things were going to proceed first, and ignoring Rossi's pleading looks for help. He had put himself into this trouble, so he should see how to get out of it by himself.

"I'm waiting, David! What's going on?"

Rossi looked around uneasily, seeing Hotch cringe, and Prentiss exchange questioning glances with Morgan. Reid wore his usual puzzled expression that he always had when he couldn't make sense of a situation.

In that moment, Garcia came out of her office and entered the stage.

"Hello my loves, what's that gathering supposed to mean?" she wanted to know, raising her eyebrows in confusion at the scene in front of her. When she saw the tears in JJ's face, she was immediately alarmed. "What's wrong with you, Jayje? Did this poor excuse of a baby's father upset you again?"

JJ looked away, wishing for a quick escape to appear in front of her, and hoping that Mrs. Rossi hadn't heard what Garcia just said. Unfortunately, however, the small woman's hearing was still perfectly fine, despite her advanced age. Rossi, too, stood there, helpless, watching everything tumbling down right before his eyes, without being able to interfere, as his mother asked: "Father? What father?"

As if things couldn't get any worse, Reid, being his usual self, blurted out: "Your mother doesn't know you're the father of JJ's baby?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Everyone stood shocked waiting for what was going to happen, and for Mrs. Rossi to take in the big news.

Rossi wished for the earth to open up and swallow him, or better, for a sudden lightning to strike him dead, because, whatever would come now, it was surely worse than any kind of death. The next thing he knew was that his mother handed the cake over to Hotch, closed the last few steps between them, and gave him a ringing slap in the face, right in front of everyone. Judging from the look in her eyes, she had fully understood the situation, remembering her meeting and talk with JJ from a few weeks back.

Rossi didn't even dare to meet her eyes, as he heard her speak, quietly, but with more disgust he'd thought possible to hear out of her mouth. "I'd never have thought that the day would come that I am truly ashamed of my own son!"

He hung his head in defeat, never even bothering to try to defend himself while he felt more ashamed than he ever had in his entire time on this earth. It tore his heart into pieces to see the one woman he loved more than anything in the world – besides Jennifer – so disappointed. Not for the first time he regretted his poor behavior in the last months. Oh, how much he wished he'd handled things differently from the begin on! He had absolutely no idea what to say or to do now. A simple apology would never be enough at the moment, and trying to explain himself would only extend her wrath, though he was not sure, if that was even possible.

Lucky for him, his mother gave him a way out for the time being. "Get out of my sight immediately!" Obeying without even looking at her, he slowly trudged away, making his way up the few stairs to his office, followed by the glances of his team and all of their other coworkers. They had all finally gotten the proof, witnessed with their own eyes, that he was not only the world's most legendary profiler, but also the biggest bastard on the face of the earth.

As soon as he had closed the office door behind him, everyone else seemed to awake out of their paralysis. Hotch, within seconds back in full unit-chief mode, sent them all back to their desks. "All right, people, show's over, go back to work!" Turning to Mrs. Rossi, he said: "I am really sorry about all this."

"Don't worry, young man. You don't have to take responsibility for my son's poor behavior," she dismissed him.

"Maybe we should have a seat, Mrs. Rossi," Hotch continued. He gestured over to the little kitchen corner, adding: "Let me introduce you to our team while you're here. I don't know if you remember me, it's been quite a while since we've met."

"Of course I remember you, Mr. Hotchner!" Gracia Rossi replied, smiling at him. "It was really nice to have had you over for dinner all those years ago." Yes, Hotch recalled, it had been wonderful meeting her and the entire Rossi family back in the days before Rossi's early retirement. Rossi's mother was the most warmhearted woman he'd ever met, and he mentally berated his friend once again for his actions, causing his mother such a grief. Hotch knew that Rossi hadn't done it on purpose, he knew how much his mother meant to him, but he couldn't help but wonder again about his serious lack of ability for handling things better.

Once they had all gathered around the kitchen table, Hotch made the introductions. "Guys, you've already realized, this is Dave's mother, Gracia Rossi. Mrs. Rossi, these are Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia, and Jennifer Jareau." They all shook her hand and welcomed her.

"Mrs. Rossi, it's wonderful to meet you again!" JJ greeted her.

"The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Jareau," Mrs. Rossi replied warmly, giving JJ a bright smile.

"Please, call me JJ."

Hotch was a bit surprised. "You two have already met?"

"Yes, briefly, a few weeks ago when I was at the mall with David," Gracia Rossi answered. Turning back to JJ, she said: "If I may ask, do you mind if we talked in private?"

"Not at all," JJ nodded. "We can go into my office. May I offer you a cup of coffee, or something else?"

She filled two mugs for them, and then guided Rossi's mother over to her office.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

When JJ and Rossi's mother were gone, the rest of the team still lingered in the breakroom for another few minutes.

"What is wrong with this man?" Morgan said, shaking his head at Rossi's behavior.

"I don't know," Prentiss sighed. "One minute you think things are finally going to be all right again, and the next, poof, he goes and blows it all up again."

"I should have eliminated him the moment JJ told me everything in the hospital," Garcia threw in.

"I don't think that this would have made things any better," Reid said. "JJ loves him too much" Garcia, Prentiss, and Morgan stared at him in disbelief.

"What? I mean it's obvious, isn't it?" Reid shrugged.

Prentiss and Garcia let out a giggle. "That's a first! Since when are you not totally oblivious of these things?" Prentiss chuckled.

"He's right, though," Hotch said matter-of-factly. "And Dave loves her too."

"Yeah, and what are we going to do about it?" Morgan wanted to know.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked back.

"Come on, Hotch, they can't go on like that! I know we agreed to keep out of their business and let them work things out for themselves, but you have to admit that Rossi's about to screw things up for good, if he goes on like that and we don't interfere." Morgan's reply sounded quite agitated.

"I agree, but there's a new factor in our equation now. His mother." Hotch couldn't suppress a grin. "Believe me, if there's one person that can straighten him out, then it's this woman! I mean, you've seen her!"

They all nodded, recalling the events from just a few minutes ago.

"Man, this lady was pissed!" Morgan burst out. Hotch wanted to add something, but was interrupted by his cell phone ringing.

"Have we got a new case already?" Reid asked when the Unit Chief had ended the call.

"No, that was just a local detective asking for a consult. Which reminds me that we all still have work to do, don't we?" Rising from their seats, they all headed towards their respective offices and desks. "Oh, and one more thing," Hotch held them back before they parted. "This avoidance and turning-away from Rossi from the past weeks, I don't want to see that again."

*********

Hotch walked up the stairs, but instead of going into his own office, he went over and knocked on Rossi's door. Hearing no sound from inside, he simply entered. Rossi was standing at the window with a bottle of Scotch in his hand, his back to the door, staring out.

"What, now you're not even taking a glass anymore?" Hotch asked him teasingly.

"Get out of here, Hotch!" Rossi barked without bothering to turn around.

Instead of obliging Rossi's unfriendly uttered request, Hotch closed the door and walked over to his friend.

"You do realize that you're still on duty, right?" he asked Dave, eyeing him from the side.

"It's none of your business," Rossi answered roughly, taking a healthy mouthful from the bottle.

They stood in silence, shoulder to shoulder, for a few moments.

"Do you really think getting drunk will help you with your mother and JJ?" Hotch wanted to know.

Rossi didn't reply at first, but after long seconds he finally muttered: "What does it matter anymore?" He looked at Hotch for the first time since the younger man had entered the room, and went over to sit down on his couch. Not wanting to give up so fast, Hotch followed him and took a seat right next to him. They were silent again for a couple of minutes, when Dave suddenly whispered: "I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't even know myself anymore, Aaron. All I know is that my mother hates me, that I hate myself. Maybe I should make a clean cut. Maybe it's better if I left."

"What are you saying here, Dave?" Hotch questioned, not liking what he just heard.

"You saw it. I snapped when I saw her with that Anderson jerk, and I had no right at all to do so. Who's telling me that it won't happen again? All I'm obviously capable of is hurting Jennifer and everyone else around me." Rossi answered moodily.

"Tell me one thing, Dave. Do you love her?"

Rossi didn't have to think about the answer. "More than anything or anyone ever before," he said firmly. "I never thought it would be possible, but Jennifer, Henry, and the baby mean the world to me."

"And don't you think that's worth fighting for?"

Rossi's look was dark and clouded. "What if I screw up again? I don't think JJ could handle it another time, and I just don't want to hurt her anymore."

"If that happens, you can be sure that at least your mother and Garcia will make sure you'll never see the sunlight again," Hotch smirked, trying to loosen up the situation. "Seriously, Dave. You have to be patient. Things won't change over night, but JJ and the baby need you. And if I remember correctly, your mother's been trying to get a grandchild from you since forever. You don't really want to take that away from her, do you?"

Rossi let out a small laughter. "God, no! Though, she will probably just go and adopt JJ, regardless of what I do."

"Yeah, I'd say that's a fair assumption, they're both currently talking in JJ's office."

They sat next to each other for another few minutes until Hotch stood up.

"Well, I gotta go back to work. I'm pretty sure you do to." He walked over to the door and opened it. Before stepping outside, he turned around again and added: "You're not alone, Dave. The team and I will all be there for you and JJ. All you have to do is ask if you need our help." He didn't wait for an answer and closed the door behind him and went back into his own office.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Please, have a seat," JJ said once she and Mrs. Rossi had entered her office, freeing a chair from a load of case files that had piled up all over her office. She pulled another chair from behind her desk, and sat down next to the older woman.

Looking at her, JJ realized again that Rossi must probably resemble his father more than his mother. A few weeks back at the mall she had already noticed that there was only one physical trait he shared with his mother, and that was her eyes. They were the same dark brown color, and she looked at JJ with the same intense glance as Rossi always did. It was almost as if they could see right into the depths of her soul.

Clearing her voice, JJ started to speak first. "I'm so sorry that you had to find out this way, Mrs. Rossi. We really should have told you earlier."

"Don't worry, this is not your fault. You don't have to take responsibility for my son's mistakes," Rossi's mother answered resolutely.

"I know, but it would probably have been better if we had told you right away, when we met at the shopping center. I just... I just couldn't. You looked so proud of him that I just didn't have the heart to tell you what a -" JJ stopped in the middle of the sentence, not wanting to use bad names describing the son in front of his mother, no matter how true they might be.

"A scumbag he was?" Rossi's mother finished for her. "It's okay, don't hesitate to speak your mind. I have all kinds of names for him in my mind right now, and believe me, none of them are very flattering."

JJ smiled at her outspoken demeanor.

"Please, would you tell me what happened between you and David?" Gracia Rossi asked then. Sighing deeply, JJ was not sure if she should tell her everything, but as she saw her uneasy posture, Mrs. Rossi added: "Please, do not spare me with the details. I need to know how badly my son has screwed up."

Slowly, JJ began to talk. "David and I spent a night together in spring. I got pregnant, despite being on the pill, and when I told him about it, he was a bit overwhelmed, I guess."

"You don't have to sugarcoat the words, sweetheart. I can imagine he said some incredibly stupid things." The other woman supplied.

"Well, yes, he did. But I've wondered ever since, if things had turned out differently if I hadn't stormed out of his office. Maybe I should have insisted on talking things through right away. Maybe we wouldn't be in this mess now." JJ said, running a hand through her long, blonde hair.

"Don't blame yourself. This is all my son's doing. I'm afraid to say that he has always had a habit of talking before thinking. Go on, what happened then?"

"He had made it clear that he didn't want to be a father, so I told him to stay away from me. I was enraged when I said it, and after a while, when the first anger had been gone, I was to proud to make a step towards him, to try to talk to him again. We agreed to keep our distance from each other outside our jobs. I thought that maybe if he had some time to think about everything and get used to the thought of becoming a father, he'd come around eventually. Which he did. I just didn't think it would take that long." JJ explained.

Gracia Rossi looked at her in surprise at her last sentences.

"Well, yes," JJ continued. "The scene from earlier was sort of a relapse. Different kind of freaking out this time."

"What happened?"

JJ was still feeling a bit uneasy in telling all of these things to Rossi's mother, but she also knew that the woman sitting next to her wouldn't stop questioning until she heard the whole truth. So she took another deep breath and went on.

"I better start at the beginning," JJ elaborated. "A few weeks ago, after we met at the mall, I was in hospital for a few days due to premature contractions. This was obviously what he needed to realize what he was about to lose. We talked, and I agreed on working things out with him. I told him that for mine and Henry's sake, I would have to take things slowly, but that I was nonetheless willing to let him into our lives. We were mostly talking on the phone from then on, as I'm not really comfortable yet with spending more time with him outside of work, but I really thought we were finally on the right track. Until he got all jealous and possessive with me a few minutes ago, which had nothing to do anymore with the baby steps he'd agreed to take with me."

Mrs. Rossi shook her head, understanding completely what JJ was saying. This behavior on her son was not new to her at all. "Lapsing from one extreme into the other, that's typically David, I'm afraid to say."

JJ nodded. "Exactly."

"What was he accusing you of?" Rossi's mother kept inquiring.

"He suspected me of having an affair with a colleague, when he saw us standing in the breakroom together, yelling at poor Agent Anderson to keep his hands away from me and his baby. I know, after I've waited so long for it, I should really appreciate that he's finally referring to the baby as his, but the way he said it was just over the top."

Mrs. Rossi looked at her warmly, smiling gently, before she asked another question. "If you don't mind my asking, but you mentioned a Henry earlier."

JJ's face lit up at the mentioning of her boy's name. Smiling widely, she replied: "That's my son." She reached over to her desk and grabbed the framed photograph she'd put up there, and handed it over to Rossi's mother. The older woman's eyes began to shine.

"Oh, what a beautiful little boy! How old is he?"

"He's thirteen months old." JJ answered.

"What about his father?"

"He is not in the picture." JJ shook her head dismissively, and Mrs. Rossi seemed to understand what it meant.

"I'm so sorry. Now I'm even more upset with David for what he did. I'm sure he knows what you've been through with your son's father, doesn't he? He should have known better than to make the same mistake!" She exasperated.

JJ nodded, remembering how Dave had stepped up and had been there for her after Will had left. Feeling Mrs. Rossi take her hand and squeeze it reassuringly, JJ felt an instant bond between them. She knew she could trust the other woman unconditionally. Rossi was damn lucky to have a mother like that, she thought. Seeing the sad look and disappointment in her eyes, JJ wanted to show her another side of her son. She fumbled in her purse, and took out her wallet to pull a photo of Rossi playing with Henry from it, which she had taken on one of the many evenings Rossi had spent with them after Will's departure. "He loves Henry, you know. After his father left me, Dave was there for me like no one else. It makes it even more difficult for me to understand why he would act the way he did," JJ whispered, feeling the tears begin to form in her eyes.

They kept on chatting about how JJ and David had met, about her time with Will, and about how Dave had supported her after the end of her relationship with the cop for quite some time, and Mrs. Rossi grew angrier at her son with every minute, as she, much like JJ, could not comprehend, what made him act like this.

"His father would turn over in his grave, if he knew about David's behavior," Gracia Rossi muttered after a while. "This is not how we raised our son," she said almost apologetically. JJ smiled at her. "I'm certain of that, Mrs. Rossi," she assured her.

Thinking for a moment, JJ realized at Mrs. Rossi's mentioning of her husband that she wanted to know more about the Rossi family. She noticed now that she and Dave had never actually talked in detail about his childhood or his family, about either of their lives before they had met. She knew he'd had a happy childhood, his love and admiration for his parents were shining through the few times he had talked about them and his past, but besides that, she practically didn't know anything about him at all.

Before she was able to ask, Dave's mother began to tell her about it, already having seen the questions on JJ's face. "David's father and I got married quite young. We both wanted to have a couple of children as soon as possible, but it took a few years until David finally arrived. I had already had two miscarriages when he came. After that I tried to get pregnant again, but when I lost another three baby's in the early stages of pregnancy, we both accepted that it wasn't meant to be. As sad as I was, as my husband and I both were, we settled in with our only son. He was such sweet boy, and after all we'd been through, he was special to us. We were so proud of him, all along the way, and we did the best we could to provide for him. We tried not to spoil him too much, but despite raising him with strong values, we also allowed him to have many liberties. I have to admit that I was never entirely happy with how he chose to live his life, and he made a lot of mistakes over all those years, but deep down, he has always been a good man." Her eyes became dark and clouded, and she added: "Until now."

"He's still a good man, Mrs. Rossi. He just forgets it sometimes, and then people around him get hurt." JJ said melancholy.

Gracia Rossi reached her hand out and gently patted JJ's cheek. Smiling sadly, she said: "I've always hoped that he would find a nice girl like you, even though he doesn't deserve you at all." JJ chuckled silently at Mrs. Rossi calling her a girl. It was something that hadn't happened in quite a while. She wanted to add to it, but Mrs. Rossi stopped her. "I know you can't and you won't just simply take him back after all he's done. I understand that, and I will accept and support every decision you make." The sad look in the old lady's eyes almost tore JJ apart. She didn't deserve to suffer for her son's stupidity, and JJ knew exactly what could make her feel better.

Taking her hand, she said softly: "Mrs. Rossi, I can promise you one thing. No matter what comes out of me and Dave, I want to make sure that our child knows his grandmother. He or she will be lucky to have a wonderful person like you in his or her life."

Mrs. Rossi's face immediately lit up again, as she whispered under tears: "Thank you, Jennifer."

Although she was still more than just a little bit mad with her son, she was just as happy that she was finally, after so many years and after almost giving up hope, becoming a grandmother. Looking into Mrs. Rossi's dark brown eyes that were now shining with happiness, JJ knew she was doing the right thing. Even if she and David might never be together as a couple, they were nevertheless connected through their child for all times. The mere thought of spending more time with him than at work still made her heart ache; no matter how much she missed him, she just couldn't forget that easily, how bad he had treated her, over the last months and again today.

"Thank you again, Jennifer," Gracia Rossi said affectionately, and leaned over to pull JJ in a tight hug.

"Not at all, Mrs. Rossi," JJ replied softly.

"I think it's time for you to call me Mama. As far as I'm concerned, you're family now. And I hope that I can make David see reason and get him to understand that as well."

JJ smiled at her gently and nodded. With her help, she knew they could get out of this as friends again. She didn't want to think of anything further yet, that was something only time would be able to tell, but for the sake of their child, she wanted them to be friends.

"Now I'm going to have to pay my son another visit," Gracia Rossi continued, standing up from her chair. Taking JJ into another tight embrace, she said: "I hope we will meet again soon."

"We will," JJ ensured her.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Gracia Rossi entered her son's office without even bothering to knock first. Inside, she found David still sitting on his couch, the bottle of Scotch still in his hands. He hadn't moved since Hotch had left the room, and was only pulled out of his deep thoughts, when he heard his mother yelling: "Are you actually drinking in your office, David Rossi? In broad daylight? Are you completely out of your mind?" His head jerked up and he saw her standing in the door, her hands on her hips and a deathly glare in her eyes. Usually, he never cared about what his mother thought of his drinking habits; she had expressed her displeasure with his liking of some good old Scotch every on more than one occasion, and it was one of the few things he normally chose to ignore. This time, however, it only added to his guilty conscience, and he already began to think of an excuse, when he heard her continue: "But what am I expecting? You're not quite known for making wise decisions at the moment." She stomped over to him and yanked the bottle out of his hand, slamming it violently onto his desk.

Closing the door, she went back to sit down next to him. "Answer me! What's going on in that stupid mind of yours?" She demanded roughly, smacking him on the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, Mama." Rossi muttered remorsefully, lowering his head again to avoid looking into her eyes. He couldn't bear to see the disappointment again, and and he wished once again that he had handled things differently from the beginning.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Jennifer! From what she just told me, you will have to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness more than once."

"I will, Mama," he whispered.

There was a long silence, and Mrs. Rossi eyed her son closely from the side. Clearly, the consequences of his actions had taken their toll on on him, she noticed. His hair was grayer, his eyes more tired, and there were more wrinkles on his face than before.

After a few minutes, she began to speak again. "So, I'm finally becoming a grandmother." Her voice had softened, and the contentment at this prospect could not be missed. Surprised at her sudden change of demeanor, Dave raised his head.

"I'm sorry you had to learn about it this way. We never intended to keep this from you, Mama," he said softly.

"I know, son. Jennifer told me everything. What I want to know is, are you going to be the father this child needs you to be?" Mrs. Rossi questioned.

"If JJ told you everything, then she probably also let you know that we've already worked this out." Rossi replied quietly.

"She did, but I want to hear it from you. Are you going to be the father this child needs and deserves?" Her voice began to sound a bit impatient.

"Of course, Mama!" Dave stated firmly, his tone leaving no doubt about his sincerity on that subject.

"Good. Now, should I ever hear or see the slightest indication that could prove otherwise, I will make you personally dig your grave before I kill you and throw you into it, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mama," he murmured.

After another few silent moments, Dave reached out to take his mother's hand. He tugged it gently between his palms and whispered, still avoiding her gaze: "I'm so sorry, Mama. I never meant to hurt or to disappoint you."

"David, I already told you. It's not me you have to apologize to," Mrs. Rossi said.

Looking straight into her eyes for the first time since she'd entered his office, he went on: "I heard you, and I will go see JJ as soon as our talk is over, but I also have to say this to you. I am really sorry for what I've done and for how badly I've failed you. I hope you can forgive me."

Smiling gently, she cupped his cheek with a warm hand, and told him: "It's in a mother's nature to forgive their children almost anything, son. I appreciate your words, Davey." Stroking his cheek, she went on: "I love you, and I'm very proud of you, despite your recent behavior. But be assured that I will not tolerate such a behavior again!"

Dave smiled back weakly and bent over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Mama. I don't deserve this."

"Don't thank me. You're lucky that the prospect of finally having a grandchild in a few weeks outweighs your sins for the moment."

"I swear, I will never act like that again," Dave assured her.

They both stood up and walked towards the door. With a look on the bottle of Scotch on David's desk, his mother demanded: "And you will stop with the drinking as well! Especially on the job!"

Exiting his office, he asked: "Is there anything I can do for you right now, Mama?"

"You can walk me to the elevators," she answered dryly.

They passed the bullpen, and Mrs. Rossi said goodbye to everyone, and with a concerned glance at Reid, she added: "And you can make sure that this boy eats a good share of the cake I left in your breakroom. He's too skinny." Dave chuckled at that, and wondered at that thought why his mother was actually here at the BAU.

"By the way, Mama. Why did you come here today in the first place?"

"Well, I thought you could use a nice piece of apple pie after a bad case," she answered, looking away, which made him furrow his brows in suspicion.

"Mama, you've never done that before, so what gives?"

Sighing deeply, she admitted: "Fine, I wanted to see if I could invite Jennifer over for brunch on Sunday, as you were ignoring my requests for doing so for weeks. At least now I know why."

"Mama, I have already told you numerous times that I don't want you to interfere with my love life!" Dave burst out.

"Davey, as it turned out today, you are going to need all the help you can get in that area, although I highly doubt at the moment that Jennifer will ever be stupid enough to take you. No need to get worked up about it. Right now, all you should worry about is being a father to my grandchild. God help you if you screw this up for me! Now go and see Jennifer. I expect you to call me with an update as soon as you arrive home tonight. And I strongly suggest you keep me informed about everything that's going on from now on!" The tone in her voice left no room for debate, so Dave simply bent to kiss her cheek again, as the elevator arrived on their floor.

"I promise, Mama."

*********

As soon as his mother had disappeared, he made his way to Jennifer's office. Knocking lightly on her door, he entered when he heard her call him in. Looking up from the file she was working on, she saw that it was exactly the person she'd expected it to be.

"So, I see you survived your mother's wrath?" JJ decided to clear the tense air with a small joke right away. She knew there was no point in yelling at each other, not after her talk with Rossi's mother.

"Just barely," he said, relieved that she obviously decided not to give him a hard time. "Listen, Jennifer, I want to apologize for earlier. I was an ass again, and I'm really sorry about that."

JJ got up from behind her desk and gestured him towards the two chairs she and his mother had been sitting in before. "Close the door and sit down, Dave."

When they were both seated, he began again. "Jennifer, I am truly sorry for my behavior today. I had no right to yell at you like that."

"You're right, you didn't," JJ stated matter-of-factly. "I told you to give me time to think, that we need to take things slowly, and shouting at me doesn't really help your case."

"I know, JJ. And I can promise you that it won't happen again. It's just... it's hard for me to see you with another man, to see him touch our baby while I don't get the chance to do it," he tried to explain.

"Dave, everyone on the team has touched my belly before, there's no need to freak out about it. And you have to admit that after all that you've done, it's a bit difficult for me to trust you again." JJ reasoned.

"Yeah, but Anderson is not the team!" Dave sighed deeply and added: "I guess I just got jealous."

"That you did," JJ snorted. There was a small pause before she continued.

"David, I need you to realize one thing. You and I, we are not an 'us', and to be honest, I don't know if we ever will be." Seeing the disappointed look on his face as he avoided her gaze, she added: "Dave, look at me!" She waited until he did and then said softly: "We have both created this child and we will both forever be connected through our baby. You and I will both be responsible for raising him or her, and I can assure you that I will never exclude you from anything in our baby's life."

A small sign of hope appeared in his eyes, and he said: "Jennifer, I want us to be friends again."

Breathing in slowly, she replied: "I want that, too, Dave, but I need you to give me the time to learn to trust you again, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded. He would agree to anything to get her back into his life permanently. "But I can only show you that I am indeed trustworthy when I get to spend more time with you again. I miss you, Jennifer," he insisted.

Knowing that he was right, she answered: "Fine, why don't we start with spending our lunch breaks together again? And then we'll see, okay?"

"So, I take it, inviting you over to my mother's for brunch next Sunday would be a bit too pushing?"

"I'll think about it." She smiled at him and they were both relieved and happy that they were looking at a brighter future together.

"Ehm, I guess you still have a lot of work to do, so I'll just leave you to it again. Call me if you need anything." David concluded then, stood up and walked over to the door.

Getting up from her chair as well, JJ felt the baby kick.

"David!" She called him back, closing the few steps between them.

"What is it?"

She took his hand and laid it onto her belly. "Can you feel it?"

Dave stared in awe at his hand on her eight-month pregnant bump. "Wow... that's … our baby!" He whispered barely audible. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and relished the feel of his son's or daughter's kicks against his hand, realizing that he'd never felt something so wonderful before. "You really don't know what it's going to be?" He asked softly.

JJ shook her head. "No, I want it to be a surprise this time. Also, my doctor said that the baby has been doing a pretty good job with hiding his identity so far. Even he is not a hundred percent sure what it's going to be."

"I'd be happy with either a boy or a girl." Dave said.

"But?"

"No but, as long as the baby's healthy I'll take what we get." Seeing the wide and happy smile on JJ's face, he added: "Though I have to admit that I'd love to have a little girl who looks just like her mother." He rubbed her belly gently, and pressed a small kiss onto it.

"Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing this with me." He wanted to pull her into a tight hug, but he knew that he'd overstep a line she wasn't ready to cross yet.

"I'm glad you're finally coming to your senses, Dave."

There was an awkward moment of silence, when neither of them knew what to say.

"Well, I'll get back to my files then." JJ said quickly.

"Sure. I need to get some work done myself. Well, bye then."

"Bye."

"Would you mind if I walked you to your car later?" Dave asked before he stepped out finally.

JJ smiled, and shook her head. "Not at all."


	22. Chapter 22

_**A/N: Shorter chapter today, but I can promise that I'm still far from finished with this story. I hope everyone still enjoys reading. Please let me know what you think. **_

Chapter 22

The rest of the weeks until Christmas went by rather quiet. Even the serial killers out there seemed to have decided to take a break, and the team stayed mostly at their headquarters in Quantico. Especially Rossi was quite happy about that, because it meant staying closer to Jennifer.

JJ began to feel more and more comfortable with him again. They used their lunchbreaks for long talks, and JJ was pretty happy that Rossi was getting back to being the person he used to be before her pregnancy. Still, there was this small voice of doubt in the back of her mind, which constantly reminded her of everything that had happened between them, and it made it quite hard for her to fully trust him again. There was always the possibility that he pulled back from her and their baby again, just as suddenly and unexpected as he had before, and as much as she wanted to believe in him, for as long as she still had these doubts, she had to guard her heart, because there was no way she would survive such a rejection for a second time.

The team had turned out to be wonderfully supportive of both of them, which was something JJ really appreciated. She was especially pleased to see that the tension between them and Rossi seemed to have faded. While she never knew exactly how bad they had treated him, she'd always sensed that things had been pretty difficult among them ever since they knew the truth. It was good to see that they had obviously worked out whatever kind of problems they had, and were now functioning together again. They had spent a couple of evenings all together after work, having dinner at a restaurant, and simply relaxing for a few hours, being able to focus on other things than the atrocities of their job.

As she and Dave were sitting in the cafeteria for lunch once again, JJ wondered not for the first time if it had been the right decision to keep things from them for so long. Who knew if she and Rossi wouldn't have been able to come to peaceful terms a lot earlier if they'd had the support of their friends from the begin on? They couldn't change it anymore, though, and JJ knew she had more important things to do than to agonize over what ifs.

"Penny for your thoughts," Rossi said, breaking the silence that had been between them for a few moments.

"Huh?" JJ's head jerked up.

"You were pretty far away. What were you thinking about?" He asked with an amused smile.

"Oh, nothing," JJ answered, too quickly to be believable, and tried to focus on the food in front of her again.

"Don't nothing me, JJ. What's going on in your mind?" Dave persisted softly.

JJ sighed. "It's just that I still haven't told my parents about us. I told them briefly on the phone that you and I are trying to work things out, but they still don't even know your name, or that we're working together. I just didn't have the nerves for a discussion yet that will certainly follow once they know everything."

"Do you want me to be with you, when you talk to them?" Rossi wanted to know.

"Do you want my father to shoot you?" JJ asked back. Rossi grinned. Surely it wouldn't be that bad, would it?

Seeing his unbelieving face, JJ explained: "Seriously, Dave. I'm sure it's better if I talked to them alone. They're quite conservative people, and it's bad enough for them that I'm expecting the second child from the second man without being married. My Daddy certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill the man who hurt his little girl so much, if he was sitting right in front of him when he hears the news. It will be better to give them some time to absorb everything and calm down before they'll meet you. And believe me, they will want to meet you at some point!"

"Jennifer, I want to be there for you. And if your parents are going to give you a hard time-," Dave started, but was interrupted by JJ.

"They won't! They're wonderful people, Dave. They just didn't entirely approve of the way I chose to live my life, and that's a thing we will never agree on, but they've always been a hundred percent supportive of me."

"Okay, JJ. But if you need any help, you can call me and I'll be there as soon as possible." Dave gave in.

"Thanks Dave, I appreciate that," JJ smiled at him. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the warm feeling in her stomach that he seemed to be able to create with a simple look. One day she would have to have a serious conversation with her feelings, and decide what she was going to do with them, but not now. Not before the baby was here. The more urgent problem at the moment was to bring her parents up to speed.

JJ knew she couldn't put off talking to them for much longer, and she felt guilty for having kept things from them for so long. Especially since Rossi's mother knew everything, she felt it was only fair if her own mother and father got to learn about it as well. She was briefly toying with the idea of not telling them until after the baby was born, hoping that maybe the joy over their grandchild would overlap their anger towards Rossi, but she also knew that if they found our that they'd been kept in the dark significantly longer than everyone else, they'd be truly and rightfully disappointed.

Perhaps Christmas would be a good time to catch them up with everything.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

JJ's parents were staying with her and Henry for Christmas this year. Normally, she would spend the Holidays at their house in Pennsylvania, but after her hospitalization, she was advised not to travel longer distances, and she surely didn't want to take a risk.

The team had a small pre-Christmas party at the office on the 23rd, and then everyone headed off to their own families. Morgan flew to Chicago to visit his mother and sisters, Reid went off to Las Vegas to see his mother, Prentiss expected her mother, Hotch spent the time with Jack, and Garcia had persuaded Kevin to fly somewhere with a lot of sun and a beach.

Rossi had thought about asking JJ if they could celebrate Christmas together, but hadn't expressed this idea when she told him that her parents were coming. He realized that she needed time alone with them to get them up to date, but he made a mental note to call her every day to see how she was doing.

JJ was quite nervous when her parents arrived on Christmas Eve. She wanted to get the talk over with as fast as possible, so they could enjoy the rest of the Holidays together.

"Jennifer, sweetheart! You look so much better than last time!" Mary-Ann Jareau exclaimed as JJ opened the door to let them in. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug and stroked gently over her hair, before she stepped inside and immediately sought out Henry. After embracing her father as well, JJ stepped aside and closed the door once he was inside.

"Mom, Dad, I've already prepared the guest room for you. You can put your things in there," JJ told them, reaching for Henry, who was happily squirming in his grandmother's arms. "Let me have him so that you can get settled, Mom," she said, clearly sounding more nervous at the upcoming talk than she thought she would be.

"Jenny, you're being jittery. Are you okay?" Robert Jareau asked a bit suspiciously.

"Yeah, sure," JJ lied.

Seeing that her father didn't believe her and was about to retort something, she quickly added: "Listen, I've got to talk to you about something, but I want you to get comfortable first. I'll fix us some coffee and then we can sit down on the couch, okay?"

"Jennifer, honey. Does this have something to do with what you mentioned on the phone recently? That you're back together with the baby's father?" Mary-Ann Jareau questioned.

"We're not together, Mom, but yes, it has to do with him. Would you please get out of your coats now and go into the living room? I really don't want to do this while we're standing here in the hall." JJ insisted.

Ten minutes later they were all seated around the living room table. JJ had made some coffee – decaf as she had to assure her parents – and was searching for the right words to start. Before she could do so, however, her father spoke again.

"You really have a way of attacking us with bad news."

"Robert, we don't even know yet if it is bad news," Mary-Ann tried to calm her husband down, laying a soothing hand on his forearm. JJ took a deep breath and then slowly began her explanation.

"Mom, Daddy, I'm not sure how you're going to take what I have to say, but please don't interrupt me, okay?" Seeing them nod, she went on, swallowing heavily, and then told them the whole story, from start to finish. Her parents' eyes widened more and more with every word she said, and when she ended, there was a deafening silence at first, as they processed everything they'd just heard. Their faces were unreadable, the expressions a mixture between anger, surprise and concern, and JJ didn't really know anymore how they would react now. She had been sure that their biggest concern would be that their daughter was involved with someone she worked with, which is why she conveniently left out to mention David's age, because that would most certainly be too much for them.

Much to her surprise, though, her parents stayed calmer then she'd expected.

"Jennifer, sweetheart, why didn't you tell us all of this earlier?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah," her father added. "I would have paid this scumbag a visit with my shotgun for hurting my girl so badly. In fact, I could still do it. Where does he live, Jenny?"

"Daddy, please!" JJ groaned, only to be interrupted by her mother.

"You know that I'm not that happy with your way of life, sleeping with your colleague and all when there are certainly rules against that in the FBI, but I won't judge you for it. It's your life and you can live it any way you want. But it makes me sad that you didn't tell us earlier. You should have told us when we were here last time."

"Mom, I know. And I'm sorry about that. But I was really afraid that Daddy would hurt David."

"Damn right I would have. I told you back then that I'm going to kill this guy, and I'm still standing by it." Robert Jareau grumbled.

"Daddy, please! Leave it alone. David has made quite a few mistakes and I was deeply hurt and disappointed by it, but it's not all his fault. I'm sure I've made mistakes, too. Besides, as I've said a couple of times now, we're in the process of working things out and becoming friends again."

At her daughter's almost desperate uttered words, Mary-Ann Jareau realized that Jennifer's feelings for her coworker ran much deeper than mere friendship.

"You're in love with him, am I right?" she stated.

"No!" JJ answered much too quickly to sound convincing.

"I think you are, darling. You can deny it, but your eyes give you away, when you speak about him," her mother said softly.

"Is that true, Jenny?" Her father asked.

"No... I mean... I don't know," JJ sighed. "I guess I was in love with him before we spent the night together. I mean, he was like my best friend after Will had left, always there for me and Henry, and I could easily imagine having more with him. But he hurt me so much that I still have problems with trusting him again. I honestly don't know what I want at the moment, and I don't really want to think about my feelings for him right now. We're on our way to having our friendship back, and this, plus the fact that we're soon going to be raising a baby together, is enough for me to deal with for now. Can you understand that?"

Both her parents nodded at their daughter's pleading looks.

"Fine, but I still want to meet this guy," Robert Jareau insisted.

"You will, Daddy," JJ smiled. "But only if you promise to behave and not to hurt him."

"We'll see," he answered grumpily, already knowing that he would never deny his girl any request.

They continued talking about David and the baby for quite a while, and JJ also told them about Rossi's mother, whom their parents also insisted to meet as soon as possible.

"I want to know the people my grandchild will be spending time with after all," was her mother's comment on that.

JJ's parents had turned out to be more understanding than she had thought they would be. She had actually expected her mother to demand altering her lifestyle to fit more with her conservative views, which meant getting married to Rossi now that she knew they were approaching each other again, so she appreciated it a lot that she left it be for now. JJ was sure, though, that she would bring the topic up one day, most likely as soon as the baby was here.

As JJ had predicted, they were pretty disappointed, because she hadn't told them everything earlier. Explaining to them that she hadn't wanted to hear their reproaches and that she also hadn't wanted to worry them, JJ was relieved that her parents understood in the end.

After a while, their talk faded into a chat about lighter topics, about Henry, or how things were going in Pennsylvania, and before they knew it, it was dinner time. Mary-Ann insisted on preparing supper, while JJ and her father played with Henry until JJ's phone rang.

Peeking at the display, JJ saw that it was Rossi.

"Hi Dave," she answered at the third ring. Seeing her father's curious and not so pleased glances as he realized who the caller was, JJ stood up and walked over to her bedroom. It was not necessary that the old man overheard what she was talking with Dave while he was most likely still angry about him.

"Hey Jennifer. Are you having a good day?" Rossi greeted her.

"Yes, now I do." JJ answered.

"So, you already talked to your parents? How did they take it?" He wanted to know, sounding a bit concerned as he hoped they hadn't lashed out at her.

"Better than I thought, actually. We're okay," JJ told him.

"That's good to hear," he said relieved. "I... I just called to check on you. You okay?"

"Yes, I am." JJ smiled when she heard his words.

"And the baby's okay, too?"

"Yeah."

"And Henry?"

"Henry too," she chuckled.

"Good." Dave sounded content.

"And how are you?" JJ wanted to know from him.

"I'm fine," he replied quickly. He was about to say something else, when he heard JJ's mother calling in the background.

"I'm sorry, Dave," JJ apologized right away. "I gotta go. Dinner's ready. Is there something else you wanted?"

_Yeah, I want to be with you and Henry,_ he thought, but he didn't say it out loud. Instead he answered. "No, not really. I'll call again tomorrow if that's okay with you."

"Sure," JJ said, having a feeling that there was more. "Dave, you're not alone right now, are you?" She'd never liked it, when someone had to spend Christmas on his own.

"Not for long. My mother's coming over and we'll attend Christmas Mass later," he said. Hearing the concern in her voice, he quickly added: "And tomorrow she's going to drag me to brunch with the whole family. There'll be quite a few aunts and uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in a while. And haven't missed for that matter, but my mother insists that I go with her."

"Good," JJ smiled. She was relieved, for her own sake, that he wasn't alone over the Holidays, because she probably would have invited him over if he were, and she wasn't sure if she or her parents were ready for that yet.

"Well then, dinner's waiting. Merry Christmas, David."

"Merry Christmas, Jennifer. Call me if you need anything, will you?"

"Of course. Thanks for the call, Dave," she gave back.

"Anytime," he replied, and before he could stop himself, he added: "It was nice to hear your voice." Hoping that this hadn't been too pushing, he blew out a breath, when he heard her answer:

"Yours too, David."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The rest of the Holidays went by quietly for both the Jareau and the Rossi family. JJ enjoyed the time together with her parents very much. It was nice being taken care of for a few days without having to worry about anything, and Dave's daily phone calls were just the icing on the cake, even though she still had a hard time to admit it. However, she felt her resistance resolve with every call, which was something even Rossi couldn't miss when he talked to her.

The team had stretched staying out of the office until the new year, but Dave made sure to call JJ at least once or twice a day. Every once in a while she would also let him speak with Henry, and hearing the little boy's happy squeals through the phone melted Dave's heart every time. He wished he could be there with them, and almost asked JJ once if he could come over, but then his mother had demanded his attention with some repairing in her house, and he had to delay it.

JJ also spoke with Mrs. Rossi a few times, and the older woman had invited her, Henry, and her parents over for a New Year's brunch, but then Henry got sick with an ear infection and it had to be canceled as well. As much as she realized that she and Dave began to grow together again, JJ was secretly relieved about that. She simply didn't know if she could cope with a confrontation between her parents and Rossi yet in her very pregnant condition, as she was sure she'd have to serve as a mediator between them. Especially since she was not certain at all if Gracia Rossi would actually take her son's side, she did not want to be the only one defending him, which she knew she would feel obligated to do in front of her parents. She was already doing it anyway, making him appear in a better light, so that their eventual meeting would hopefully take place in a civilized manner.

Therefore, it wasn't until the first Monday in January that JJ and Rossi saw each other again in the office.

JJ's parents had gone back home, very reluctantly at first when Henry had gotten sick, but JJ had assured them that she and her son and the baby would be fine. The baby wasn't due until the end of January, and she wanted to make the most of the remaining time without having to focus on her parents as well. She still needed to find a replacement for herself on the team for the time of her maternity leave, and this time she wanted to catch up with all of her paperwork before she was gone.

Walking into the bullpen this morning, JJ hoped that she would get a fill-in as soon as possible, as she would still need to instruct him or her with the team's work. She had asked Agent Todd again, who would have been happy to help her out if she hadn't been posted at the other side of the country for a few months. It would have been easier for the team as well, getting someone who they already knew and who they had previously worked well with, but she couldn't help it. Now she needed to find someone as adept as Jordan Todd, who would make the time until her return pass faster.

As soon as she had come out of the elevator, Dave had spotted her. He had fixed himself some coffee and was on his way back to his office, when she came in, carrying a thickly wrapped Henry in her arms. He went over to her immediately.

"Good morning, Jennifer, hey little man," he greeted them, stroking a gentle finger over Henry's cheeks, and taking JJ's huge bag out of her hand.

"Morning, Dave," JJ pressed out. Her little boy was getting quite big and heavy.

"Why did you bring Henry?" Dave wanted to know.

"I have a doctor's appointment with him in two hours," JJ explained. Looking into a concerned face, she quickly added: "He's fine. It's just another checkup after his infection. I thought I'd bring him right with me, so that I don't have to pick him up after my meeting with a few potential replacements for myself in twenty minutes. Now I just have to find someone to watch him until my meeting's over."

"I can do it," Rossi offered right away.

"Dave, you don't have to-," JJ started to object, but was interrupted by him at once.

"Jennifer, please! I want to do it. I want to spend some time with him again, not just hear him over the phone." Seeing her doubting look, he continued: "I'm going to take good care of him for the next two hours, I promise." And in Henry's direction, he said: "We're going to have some great fun, don't we, little man?" He nudged the boy's hand and let him wrap it around his index finger. Henry gleefully squealed "Da-da" again, and JJ knew in this moment that she couldn't say no anymore. Every time she heard her son refer to Dave as "Da-da", she wondered if trusting his instincts was exactly what she needed to do. She had previously tried to make Henry say "Uncle Dave" instead of "Da-da", but her son steadily refused to listen to her.

"Fine," she smiled then, letting Dave take the boy out of her arms. "But no strenuous games, Dave. Henry's still not a hundred percent back on track. And you deal with Garcia when she hears that her godson was in the office and she wasn't the one to babysit him!"

"I'll deal with everything and everyone if I have to," Rossi replied a little absently, focusing totally on making funny faces for Henry rather than to listening to what she told him.

"All right then, let me just have my Blackberry from the bag and I'll be gone. There are diapers and some toys for Henry in the bag if you need them, and I've also prepared a bottle with some tea for him that you might need to heat up a bit. If there's anything wrong with him, I want you to call me immediately!"

"We got it all covered, JJ. Now go, before you're too late for your meeting."

"I mean it, Dave. You call me as soon as he has the slightest coughs, you hear me?"

"I will! And we'll be fine! I promise!" Dave assured her.

JJ bent over and kissed Henry gently goodbye, and before she knew what she was doing, she also gave David a quick peck on the cheek. When she realized it, she blushed deeply and walked away with a simple "Thanks, Dave."

Rossi looked after her with a wide grin on his face. "Well, munchkin, your Mama and I are definitely in the same boat again. Oh yes," he muttered contently, walking up to his office with Henry.


	25. Chapter 25

_**A/N: I'm sorry for the slow updates, I hope everyone still enjoys reading. Please drop a line and let me know what you think!**_

Chapter 25

"So, what do you want to do first, munchkin?" Dave asked Henry once he'd closed the office door behind them. Henry let out a few happy squeals for an answer and reached out his little arms to throw them around Dave's neck as best as he could in his thick winter clothes.

"What do you say, we're gonna get you out of a couple of your clothes first, and then we'll take a look at the things your Mama packed into this bag for you."

He put the bag down on the floor and laid Henry carefully onto his couch. Easing him out of his jacket, he noticed – not for the first time – how much the boy actually resembled Jennifer.

"Good for him," Dave murmured with a disdainful thought of LaMontagne.

Taking Henry onto his lap, he smiled widely as the boy latched onto him. Henry was highly fascinated by Dave's beard, squeaking enthusiastically as he grabbed it with both hands, and making even louder and more joyful noises when Dave playfully nibbled on his little fingers. There was no doubt that Henry enjoyed being with him, and the same could be said for Dave.

Looking into Henry's baby blue eyes, which were probably the most prominent feature he had in common with his mother, Dave's thoughts wandered to their unborn child. What would he or she look like? Who would it resemble more, him or Jennifer?

He couldn't wait to meet his child. His child. The thought of him becoming a father, of him being responsible for an innocent human being, still scared him more than he wanted to admit. It also felt strangely unreal to him that he and Jennifer had created one little person together. But he also knew that he had to swallow his fear. It might have taken him a while to realize it, but now that he had, nobody and nothing was going to stop him from being the best father he possibly could.

When he had felt his baby's movements for the first time a few weeks back, he hadn't been able to sleep all night. He couldn't believe how his life had been turned upside down, couldn't imagine how much it was going to change even more when the baby would finally be here, and he'd seriously wondered if he was dreaming all of this, as if the events of the past months hadn't been proof enough for him.

Getting more and more comfortable with Jennifer again had eased his fears and concerns a bit. Between the two of them, they should be able to take good care of their child and Henry.

Dave had every intention of including the boy in his life, of being the same caring father for him that he would be for his own child. Now all he had to do was to convince Jennifer of that, to convince her of his sincerity, and not to let himself be overpowered by his fears again.

Henry's hands finding his nose and pinching it curiously brought him back into reality.

"You obviously believe in me, don't you, munchkin?" he said softly as Henry squealed: "Da-da!" again. "That's right, Henry! That's Dada's nose! Can you say 'nose', Henry?"

Standing up from the couch with Henry securely pressed to his chest, Dave began to dig into JJ's bag to retrieve a teddy bear, a storybook, and a toy car. He sat Henry down on the floor, and watched him as he immediately crawled to the bag to pull out all the contents. Within minutes, Dave's office was a total mess, but much to his own surprise, it didn't bother him at all. Henry squealed with glee every time he found a new item in this miraculous bag, handed them all over to Dave, who patiently explained what they all were – a diaper, a blanket, a spoon, cookies, and many things more.

They became so engrossed in examining all the contents that Dave almost didn't hear the knock on the door.

Hotch came in and nearly fell back out again as he saw Dave and Henry sitting on the floor in the middle of the biggest disarray he'd ever seen in his friend's office.

"What's going on here?" he asked with obvious surprise in his voice.

"What does it look like, Aaron?" Dave gave back without taking his eyes off of Henry. "Henry and I are having some fun. Isn't that right, munchkin?"

"Da-da!" was all Henry let out as an answer, nodding eagerly in agreement, as he threw a diaper at Dave.

Hotch was floored. Seeing David Rossi surrounded by chaos, playing with a little child, and apparently enjoying himself in doing so, wasn't anything he'd expected to witness. It made him feel relieved and also a bit happy, though, knowing that his old friend was finally accepting and growing into his new role.

"Did you want something, Aaron?" Dave asked when Hotch didn't say anything else.

"Yeah, I was looking for the Gillman file. Morgan said you have it."

"It's on my desk somewhere between the other files," Dave said, motioning with his head into the direction without bothering to get up himself to give Hotch the file.

Carefully, as to not stepping on anything, Hotch took the few steps to Dave's desk and retrieved the file from underneath the pile.

"Why's Henry here, by the way?" he wanted to know.

"JJ's got a doctor's appointment with him this morning and already brought him with her. I'm watching him until her meeting is over." Dave explained, stopping Henry from taking a pencil into his mouth.

"Well, I'll leave you two at... whatever you're doing," Hotch concluded, walking out again. Before he closed the the door, he turned around and said: "It suits you, Dave. The father role, I mean. Don't screw it up again."

After Hotch was gone again, Dave noticed that Henry was getting sleepy. The infection from a few days ago was evidently still taking its toll on him.

"Come, Henry. What do you say, we're gonna get comfortable on that couch again, and take a look at your book?" Pulling Henry and the book up, he sat down on the sofa with him, holding him in his lap, and began to turn page after page, telling Henry little stories to every picture in there. It didn't take long, and the boy was getting more and more quiet, until he finally slumbered peacefully in Dave's arms. Dave put the book away and laid down on his back, bringing Henry to his chest, and closing his eyes himself.

That was how JJ found them eventually after her meeting.

It had gone fairly well, with two candidates for her temporary replacement having turned out, whom she promised to contact with a decision within the next few days.

As soon as they had been done, JJ walked over to David's office. She was not sure what she'd expected to find when she got there, but it was definitely not what her eyes were greeted with when she opened the door.

Gasping, she stared at the mess on the floor, seeing each and every single content of her bag spread there. Before she could say anything about it, however, her eyes fell onto the couch, where Dave was laying, his arms securely wrapped around her son, who was sleeping soundly on top of him. She took a few moments to take in the sight as her heart jumped with joy at what she was witnessing.

Admittedly, she'd had a few doubts as to whether Dave was the right person to watch Henry, of if he was really willing to walk the talk, and she was still hesitant about how to proceed with him. But seeing him and Henry in front of her like this put her mind at rest for now. Maybe there was a future for them after all.

Dave had sensed her come in at once, her scent flooding the office as soon as she'd opened the door. Not wanting to wake Henry, he held still, keeping his eyes closed and waiting for her to say something.

After a couple of moments, he heard her come over, kneeling down next to him and Henry.

At her softly whispered "Hey" he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Hey," he whispered back, not knowing what else to say, her face only a few inches away from his own.

"I take it you to had quite some fun, huh?" she observed, smiling widely at him and pointing at the chaos on his floor.

"Yeah, well," Dave grinned sheepishly. "He liked your bag." He smiled back at her, causing her heartbeat to speed up.

"Damn, this man is confusing," she thought to herself. Standing up before she did something she might regret later, she said: "I hate to disturb this little party here, but we gotta go to the doctor's now." She gently took her son into her arms, who woke up immediately when he felt losing contact with Dave's warm chest. Letting out a few displeased whimpers, he was held closely by his mother rubbing his back soothingly.

"I'll clean up the mess," Dave said, getting up from the couch, collecting the various items spread around his office and putting them back into the bag, while JJ got Henry ready.

"Thanks, Dave. For everything."

"No need to thank me, Jennifer. It was my pleasure." He was debating with himself if he should say more, if he should ask her to let him spend more time with Henry, but he left it alone for the moment, as he didn't want to discuss this with her in a hurry. While he finished up with her bag, disappointment that he was going to have to spend the rest of the day alone again was building up in him.

"Let me walk you down to your car, okay?" he offered softly, shouldering her bag, when he saw her nod.

Down in the parking garage, he helped her strap Henry into his car seat. Pressing a gentle kiss onto his forehead, he whispered: "Bye, munchkin, be good for your Mama."

He sighed deeply before turning around to JJ. He just hoped he was going to see the boy more often in the near future.

"Thank you for letting me watch him." He smiled gently at Jennifer.

"You don't have to thank me, David. I'm glad you were there."

"Well, see you later then. Are you going to bring him back in again after the doctor's?"

JJ shook her head: "No, I'll leave him with the nanny. And tomorrow he should be fine to stay at the daycare again. See you after lunch, Dave. And thanks again, I really appreciate it." She turned to get into her car, when she suddenly felt herself being pulled into his arms.

Taken by surprise, she tensed up for a second, but the warm feeling of his strong arms made her relax instantly, and she hugged him back. It lasted only a few moments until he pulled back, and JJ felt almost disappointed at the loss of contact. The memories of how good it had felt to lay in his arms filled her mind and made her want to scream for more.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer, I shouldn't have done that," Dave apologized, dispersing the good feeling again, She knew he was only following her requests to keep his distance, but it left her confused, and also a bit angry with herself. She wanted to throw herself back into his arms, let herself be held by him, but at the same time, her mind told her to be careful, to take things slowly.

Seeing his uncertain look, she realized that he was just as confused as she was. He had made it clear what he wanted, but trusting him was still incredibly hard for her. But she also realized that it wouldn't get any easier, if she kept pushing him away.

"It's okay, Dave," she said finally, smiling warmly at him, and made a mental note to spend as much time with him as she could in the next few weeks before their baby arrived, knowing that it would be the only way to learn to trust him again.

The baby, however, had other plans with them.


	26. Chapter 26

_**A/N: I'm having problems with replying to some of the reviews personally, not sure if it's fanfic or my browser, but I appreciate them a lot. Thanks so much everyone! **_

Chapter 26

Two days later, JJ had made her decision regarding her replacement, and had taken most of the day showing the new liaison around, introducing her to the team, and explaining her how they worked at the BAU. The new agent was then supposed to be shadowing her for the next two weeks until JJ's maternity leave officially began, to get a feeling for how JJ was handling her job.

But things hardly ever went as they were planned.

When her replacement had left the office, it was already shortly after six o'clock. Normally, JJ would go home herself now, especially since they didn't have a case, but she decided to wrap a little bit of her paperwork up as she didn't know if she would have time to do it with another agent breathing down her neck for the next couple of days.

She hadn't felt quite well all day, and was tempted to just leave things for the next day and go home, but knowing that it wasn't much anymore, she told herself to hang on for another hour or two.

Walking through the bullpen an hour later and distributing a few case files on her colleagues' desks, she realized that everybody else had already left. Even Hotch's office was dark, and that didn't happen too often, as he was not only their unit chief, but also the most notorious workaholic on their team.

"Jennifer, what are you still doing here?" she suddenly heard a voice from behind and jerked around.

"Jesus, Dave! Why are you sneaking up on me like that? Can't you announce yourself?" She blew out, startled.

"I'm sorry, JJ. I didn't meant to spook you," Rossi apologized contritely. "But seriously, why aren't you at home? It's past seven!" There was an underlying accusing tone in his voice that JJ usually tended to ignore, but as she wasn't at her best today, she was a bit annoyed with it, which was pretty much like her answer came out: "Not that it's any of your business, but I just wanted to finish a few things. I am practically on my way out."

"Sorry I asked," Dave muttered shortly, realizing that she was not in the best mood. He knew she was better left alone at moments like this, but when he noticed that she was rubbing a hand over her belly, and the other one over the small of her back, he felt concern rising in himself.

"What's wrong, Jennifer?" he asked worriedly.

"Nothing. Everything's fine. I just have an overactive baby today and a dragging pain in my lower back, probably from sitting at my desk," she explained quickly.

"Are you sure that's all? Maybe you should go and see a doctor?"

"Yes, I'm sure! Nothing to worry about." Her answer came out with more force than she'd intended it to, so she added in a calmer tone: "It's nothing that a long, hot bath couldn't take care of."

Dave wasn't quite convinced yet. Trying to argue with her, he was brushed off as she simply turned and kept placing the rest of the files on various desks.

"Jennifer! If you're not feeling well, you should go home and get some rest. Tomorrow's another day." He followed her through the bullpen and up to Hotch's office, where she dropped off the last folder.

"Dave, please! You're starting to get on my nerves! I'm just a little tired and on my way out now, okay?" she sighed.

"Let me drive you home then. You shouldn't be driving in your condition anyway."

"Are you trying to piss me off, David? I'm pregnant, not sick!"

"JJ, please let me drive you home," he almost begged her, having another little motive in mind. "I could help you with Henry, while you relax and have your bath."

JJ wanted to shout at him for pushing her, but the memories of him and her boy in his office from two days ago popped up in her mind and calmed her down somewhat.

"I'm sorry, Dave. I didn't mean to snap at you," she said quietly as they went back to her office.

Opening the door, she suddenly winced as a sharp pain rushed through her stomach. Stumbling in, she grabbed the back of a chair to hold onto.

"Ouch! That hurt!" She pressed out through clenched teeth.

"JJ, Jennifer, what's wrong? What is it, honey?" Dave called out, alarmed, slipping a strong arm around her waist to steady her.

"Your child is seriously determined to destroy my stomach today. What a kick!"

"Jennifer, sit down!" Dave carefully pushed her down on the chair, and knelt in front of her, laying a gentle hand on her belly and rubbed it soothingly. "Are you sure this was just the baby kicking?" he asked uneasily.

"What else do you think it was?" JJ bit back sarcastically.

"I don't know... maybe... It feels like you're in labor." he said haltingly.

"How would you know what it feels like? Are you the one who's pregnant here?"

"Sorry, wrong choice of words. Let me rephrase this. To me it looks like you're in labor."

"Can't be, I still have another three weeks," JJ denied.

"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, Henry was a little bit early as well," he reminded her, his hands still on her round bump.

"Maybe. But this feels different. This is kicking, not labor! After nine months, I should be able to tell the difference, don't you think?" JJ retorted, trying to get up from her chair.

"What are you doing?" Dave immediately wanted to know, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I'm going home now. Isn't that what you wanted me to do just five minutes ago?"

"JJ, I'm not sure if this is-" he started again, but she wouldn't let him finish the sentence.

"Don't say it!" God, she was really craving her hot water tub now!

"But Jennifer! Perhaps we should make a quick trip to the hospital and get you checked out. Just in case," he pleaded.

"Dave, once and for all. I'm fine!" JJ yelled, yanking up from her chair –

and stopped tracks.

"Oh boy!" she muttered as she felt something wet running down her legs.

"What is it?" Dave became more and more worried.

"Ehm, I hate to say it, Dave, but you were right," she admitted sheepishly, looking down on the small puddle between her legs and then up into his eyes.

"My water's just broke."


	27. Chapter 27

_**A/N: Again I'm having problems with replying to all of your reviews, but be assured that I appreciate every single one of them! **_

Chapter 27

"What?" Dave exclaimed, pulling her closer.

"I'm in labor." JJ replied as calmly as she could.

"Oh God, now?" Dave sounded slightly panicked, beginning to feel overwhelmed by the fact that their baby, _his _baby, would soon be here. "We've gotta get you to the hospital then!"

"Don't panic, Dave, we still have-" JJ started, but was hit by another contraction.

"Damn!" She exclaimed loudly. "Why are these fucking contractions coming so fast?"

"Breathe, Jennifer!" Dave told her, forcing himself to stay calm and focused while everything inside him was raging.

"Don't tell me what to do!" JJ suddenly lashed out on him again, her demeanor somewhat changing every minute. Not understanding what he did wrong this time, Dave simply tried to not let her harsh words affect him, instead focusing on getting her to the car.

"Come on, Jennifer, let's get you to the hospital," he said softly, guiding her to the door.

"But I've gotta to call the nanny first and tell her to stay with Henry!"

"You can do that from the car. Please, Jennifer!" He grabbed her coat and put it around her shoulders.

"But-"

"No buts, JJ. Let's go!"

Never taking his arm off her, he walked them down to the parking garage, and helped her inside his car. Seeing her cringe in pain, he pressed a gentle kiss against her temple.

"Hold on, honey. We'll be at the hospital in no time. I promise," he assured her softly.

"Hurts...," JJ pressed out, making him wince himself.

Quickly getting into the car, he saw her taking out her cell phone once the latest contraction had subsided. He listened to her making arrangements with the nanny to stay with Henry over night, and was glad that it didn't seem to be a problem. Squeezing her hand reassuringly, he pulled out of the parking lot. No more than five minutes later, JJ had the next contraction.

"Damn! Why are they coming so fast? It's not supposed to be happening so fast! I was in labor for fifteen hours with Henry!" JJ cursed.

"I guess our baby's very eager to meet his parents," Dave couldn't help but chuckle. "And what you've felt all day long have probably been contractions already. You've been in labor for hours and didn't even notice. I see a pattern there..."

"Don't joke about it, this is not funny!" JJ yelled at him, breathing through the pain. "Can't you drive faster? I don't want to pop this child out in the middle of the traffic in a car without any help!"

"Honey, I'm here, and I'll help you bring our baby into the world if I have to. But I can't go faster. I'm already breaking every speed limit here. Just hang in there. We're going to make it on time, I promise."

They made the drive to the hospital in record time, with Dave parking right in front of the ER, ignoring the wild gestures of a hospital employee to remove the car from the ambulance area. Tossing his keys over to the stunned man as he walked around the SUV to help JJ out, he called out to him, flashing his FBI badge: "I've got a pregnant woman in labor who's about to give birth any minute. You go ahead and find a proper parking space, if my car's bothering you here." Without another glance, he left the man standing there and jerked the car door open, wrapping his arms securely around JJ's body to get her out of the car, as she suffered from another contraction.

"It hurts so much, Dave. Something's not right. Why does it hurt so much?" she winced, holding on to him and squeezing her fingers into his upper arms. Flinching himself, he thought about the marks his arms would certainly display after that, but was wise enough to not utter a complaint.

"Everything's fine, baby, I'm sure about that," he said instead.

Quickly guiding her through the hospital entrance, he immediately yelled for a doctor. A nurse rushed over, bringing a wheelchair for JJ to sit down and showed them the way to the baby delivery station.

Twenty minutes later, JJ was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up on various machines monitoring her labor, the baby's heartbeat and her vitals. The doctor had examined her, and assured her that despite the short time between her contractions, she was still not ready to deliver the baby.

"It might also still take a few hours," Dr. Hawkes said. "I suggest you try to enjoy the last moments alone," he winked at JJ and Dave. "Call me if you need anything or if there's a problem."

With that, he left the room, leaving them by themselves.

Sitting down next to her bed, Dave took her hand in his and stroked it gently.

"I can't believe this is finally happening," he muttered quietly. "It won't be long and we're going to see our daughter or son." He bent over and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

"You're not going to leave me, right?" JJ whispered, secretly glad that he was the one to be with her at this time.

"Not for a second, sweetheart. I wouldn't miss this for the world, Jennifer," he answered firmly.

"Now we actually still have time to inform everyone," JJ smiled. "I wouldn't have thought. Would you mind calling Hotch and the team?" she asked him.

Before Dave could say anything in response, however, one of the machines' beepings suddenly became irregular, and then started to slow down.

"Dave!" JJ gasped in shock.

"JJ! What is it?" Dave wanted to know worriedly.

"I don't know. The baby's heartbeat! It's slowing down!" JJ sounded panicked.

Dave rushed outside.

"We need a doctor here, quickly!" he screamed frantically. Dr. Hawkes rushed over, and inside JJ's room with two nurses following him.

"Something's wrong with the baby!" JJ called out as soon as she saw him.

He assessed the situation and examined JJ, while Dave was standing next to the bed, not knowing what to do or what to think, silently praying that everything was going to be okay.

"Ms. Jareau, I need you to calm down, please," Dr. Hawkes told JJ, who was trying her best to follow his order, taking deep breaths and focusing on Dave playing nervously with her fingers.

It didn't take long for him to find out what was wrong. "Ms. Jareau. I want you to stay as calm as possible. Can you do that?" JJ nodded at the doctor's words.

"What is it, what's wrong?" Dave interrupted impatiently.

"Mr. Rossi, the same goes for you. Please don't panic," the doctor said. Continuing as he saw Dave nod as well, he informed them with a few words: "The umbilical cord has wrapped itself around the baby's neck, and we're going to have to deliver your child right away through a c-section."

JJ and Dave both drew in a sharp breath, as the doctor went on. "I'm afraid that's the only possibility to keep your baby from suffocating." He ordered one of the nurses to prepare everything for the operation, while the other one got JJ ready to be transferred.

Unable to say anything, JJ simply nodded again.

"You're in good hands, Ms. Jareau," Dr. Hawkes said. "We'll do everything to keep you and your baby healthy, but we're going to have to work quickly."

Dave leaned down and gave JJ another gentle kiss, this time on the lips. Not giving her a chance to protest, he whispered soothingly: "I'm here, JJ. Everything's going to be all right."

"Don't leave me!" JJ cried out as her bed was rolled out of the room, never letting go of Dave's hand on the way to the delivery ward.

"I won't, I promise. I'm going to stay right next to you."

Once inside, the nurse demanded him to put on protective clothing. As soon as he'd done that, he was back at JJ's side, who was now laying on operating table, holding her hand again and muttering soothing words into her ear.

All of a sudden the nurse monitoring JJ's vitals called out: "Her blood pressure's dropping!"

Dave looked up, worried, and began to shout at the doctor, demanding to know what was wrong, but they ignored him completely, making a quick decision to put JJ under general anesthesia.

Another nurse came over to Dave and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Mr. Rossi, I'm afraid you have to leave now."

"No, I'm staying. I'm not leaving her," Dave screamed beside himself.

"Sir, I know this is hard for you, but you have to wait outside!" She tried to pull him away from JJ, but he desperately held on to her hand.

"Sir, we can't do our job, if you don't step aside!" The doctor interfered, throwing him a warning look. Feeling JJ's hand go limp as she dosed off, he let go of her, never quite comprehending what was actually going on, and staring in shock at the doctors and nurses working around his Jennifer. He never even noticed anymore that the nurse shoved him outside, his mind reeling off a million different scenarios of what could happen.

"We're going to do everything we can for your wife and child, Mr. Rossi. Believe me, it is not the first time something like this happens," the nurse told him softly before going back in.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Dropping into a chair that was standing opposite to the delivery room, Dave let his head fall into his hands. Never before in his entire 54 years had he felt so helpless, so completely out of control as in this moment. Not knowing what was going on in there, how serious JJ's or the baby's condition was, he felt like he was about to lose his mind. Usually one to pace around nervously, he now couldn't even raise his head. He just sat there, motionless, hoping and praying that God wouldn't take them away from him. For a second, the thought of calling Hotch and his mother flashed through his mind, but it was gone just as fast before he could act on it.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there in the cold, white neon lights of the hospital floor. It could have been hours for all he knew, or maybe only minutes after all, but when he suddenly heard the loud cries of his newborn baby erupting from inside, his head jerked up. These cries were the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard, and it felt as if at least part of the heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders.

Feeling the first tears run down his cheeks, he stood up and went over to the door, trying to get a look at what was going on inside, hoping that someone was going to come over and tell him.

He didn't have to wait too long until one of the nurses came out, even though it had felt like an eternity again.

"Mr. Rossi? Congratulations, you're having a beautiful baby daughter."

Dave was stunned. "A girl? Really? I-I mean... Is she okay?" he stuttered as more and more tears began to run freely. "Wh-what about Jennifer?"

"Your wife's being taken care of at the moment. It wasn't as dramatic as it looked like, but when her blood pressure dropped, we opted for the anesthesia as a precaution. The doctor's stitching the wound up as we speak, and she should wake up in about an hour. The pediatrician is currently examining your daughter, but she appears to be nothing but a healthy little baby." The nurse explained with Dave hanging on her lips, taking in every single word she said.

Dave let out a relieved sigh and sent a quick prayer to heaven, a small smile appearing on his face as he asked: "When can I see her? Them, I mean?"

"The doctor will be done in a few minutes. I'll get you then. Your wife will be brought back into her room later and you can go to her with your daughter once we're finished."

He nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes as the nurse went back inside. This time pacing up and down the floor while he waited, he thanked all his lucky stars that everything had apparently ended so well. He noticed just now that the nurse had referred to JJ as his wife all the time, and he hadn't even thought about correcting her. Smiling lightly at this thought, he realized that that was what he eventually wanted Jennifer to be. But with everything that had happened between them, this goal would be pretty hard to achieve, and he knew it would take time. Right now, all he cared about, though, was that they were both okay, his Jennifer, and his daughter. Everything else would come with time.

"Mr. Rossi?" The nurse called for him about ten minutes later. "You can come with me now."

He followed her into the room next to the delivery ward were JJ was still lying, and the first thing he saw was the pediatrician walking towards him with the small bundle on his arms that was his daughter.

"Congratulations, Mr. Rossi. You have a strong and healthy daughter," he said, placing the baby who was loosely wrapped in a white towel, carefully into his waiting arms. Dave began to cry again as he looked at his daughter for the first time, wondering how he could ever even have thought about not wanting to be in her life. She was the most beautiful and innocent thing he'd ever seen, with her little arms and legs sticking out of the towel, and currently crying on top of her lungs. Pressing her carefully and protectively against his chest, not caring that she was still covered in blood, he whispered softly: "Shh, sweetheart, Daddy's here," rubbing a gentle hand up and down her small back.

"Mr. Rossi, why don't you follow me. We're going to weigh and measure her and you can help me bathe and dress her." The nurse suggested after a few minutes.

Dave nodded, but looked uncertainly over to the other room were JJ was.

"Don't worry, Sir. When we're finished with your daughter, your wife will be brought to her room and you both can go see her."

She held out her arm, and had Dave come with her.

"So, have you and Jennifer already decided for a name?" She asked him, taking the girl out of his arms, and removing the towel before placing her onto the balance.

"I...we," Dave stuttered. Finding coherent words still seemed somewhat impossible for him. "I-I mean, no, we haven't decided yet." He realized just now that they hadn't actually spoken about names, at least not seriously. "I want Jennifer to decide for a name," he murmured more to himself than to the nurse, who was more focused on the balance anyway.

"6 lb, 6 oz," she said contently, picking the baby up again and laid her down on the examination table.

Being totally naked again, the little girl made sure to let her displeasure be known to everyone.

"You're taking after your Daddy then, I'm guessing," the nurse chuckled, winking at Dave as she thought about the scene from earlier in the operating room. Dave only smiled proudly as the nurse continued.

"Just a few more minutes, sweetheart, and you'll be all warm and dry in your daddy's arms again," she went on trying to calm down the little girl as she handled with the tape measure.

"The head circumference is 13'', and overall she's 18"9 long," she informed Dave. "You're a tiny little princess, aren't you, sweetheart? Come on, let's have your first bath."

She gestured Dave to follow her to a washbowl, which was already prepared with warm water.

"You know how to do this, Daddy?" The nurse asked Dave, who nodded, having helped JJ with Henry a couple of times when the boy was younger.

Taking his daughter into his arms, the nurse was impressed at how professionally he held her and cleaned her tiny body.

"This is not your first kid, huh?" She asked, grinning widely.

"Well, it sort of is," Dave replied. Seeing the quizzical look on the nurses face, he added: "Jennifer has a son already." _Who'll hopefully be mine as well soon, _he added in his mind,

Fifteen minutes later, the little girl was bathed and dressed, and was peacefully slumbering in her father's arms, as they were on their way over to Jennifer's room.

* * *

_**A/N:** I'm not exactly sure about the baby's measurements. Here in Germany we're using gramms and kilos and centimeters to measure something (or someone in this case), and those pounds and ounces and inches are always, let's say, cryptic to me. I used the internet for converting the numbers, but they may not be 100 % correct. For comparison: The baby's supposed to weigh about 2900 gr, is 48 cm long and the head circumference is about 33 cm. _


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

When JJ slowly began to wake up, she had no idea where she was at first. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by dimmed light surrounding her and the sight of a white ceiling above her. She blinked a few times to get the sleep out of her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, trying to define the unfamiliar scent around her. After a few breaths, she realized that it almost felt like... a hospital!

Abruptly getting her memory back, her first thoughts went to the baby and she felt panic beginning to rise inside her as she tried to sit up, her drowsiness getting in the way of doing so, however. Looking around to find something to grab and pull herself up, her gaze fell onto Dave, who was sitting in a chair next to her bed, holding a small, white bundle in his arms. She immediately relaxed back into her cushions as she noticed the smile on his lips and the happiness in his otherwise tired and worn eyes, her heart warming at the sight in front of her eyes.

"Everything's okay," she told herself with relief, but couldn't help the tears beginning to form in her eyes. Reaching her hand out, she wanted to say something to tell him she was awake, but he had already noticed it.

"Hey," he whispered softly, smiling gently at her, before turning to his daughter again. "Look who's awake, princess, you're going to meet Mommy now."

"Princess?" JJ asked hoarsely, her voice barely audible.

"Yeah, princess," Dave answered proudly. "We have a beautiful little girl."

More tears were making it into her eyes as she tried again to sit up.

"Wait, I'll help you," Dave said quietly, cradling the baby with one arm securely to his chest, as he reached the other one out to bring her bed into a seating position.

"Here we go," he murmured, handing their daughter carefully over into Jennifer's wide outstretched arms.

Holding her baby for the first time, JJ couldn't stop the tears anymore and began to cry. The stress and the efforts of the past months running out of her with every tear that streamed down her cheeks, and she felt truly happy and content for the first time since the beginning of her pregnancy.

"You're so beautiful!" She whispered to her daughter, gently stroking her rosy cheeks as the tiny baby was peacefully slumbering in her arms, sucking her thumb.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Jennifer looked up into Dave's face, seeing that he was crying as well.

"She is. Just like her mother," he smiled contently as he laid his arm around JJ's shoulder and pressed a soft kiss into her hair.

"She has your hair Dave. So much black hair already."

"Yeah, and according to the nurses and my ringing ears, she also has my lungs and my voice," he smirked.

"But everything's okay with her, right?" JJ asked a bit anxiously.

"Everything's fine. We have a wonderful and healthy little baby girl here. Tiny, but healthy," Dave assured her soothingly.

"You look like you've been hit by a truck, Dave," JJ said, looking into his face again.

"Well, you gave me quite a scare today, honey. You and our princess."

"I'm sorry," JJ muttered guiltily.

"Hey, hey, you don't have to apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. You did an amazing job here," he reassured her quickly, taking her hand and slipping back into the chair.

"Thank you, Dave. For staying with me."

"I told you, I'm not leaving. I still can't believe how close I came to missing these wonderful moments," he replied ruefully, lowering his head.

"Don't think about it now, okay?" JJ requested. "You're here and that's what counts now. We can discuss everything else later."

"Sure. We have more important things to do now. Like giving her a name," he nodded.

"God, we've never actually talked about that," JJ sighed.

"But I'm sure, you've thought about it and come up with a few suggestions, haven't you?" Dave winked.

JJ smiled. There were a couple of names she liked for a girl, although she had to admit that she'd always found it easier to come up with a boy's name. Gently looking at her daughter, she went through the short list of girl's names in her head, and held her breath at one particular name.

"What is it, Jennifer?"

"Well, I-I like... Hannah," she said haltingly, studying Dave's face to see if he'd liked the name as well. His smile became wider as he confirmed: "Then Hannah it is."

"You like it? If not I'm sure we can find-" JJ started, still a bit hesitant.

"Jennifer, stop," he interrupted her softly. "I love it. Besides, it's your decision. You're her mother. Any ideas for a middle name?"

"And you're her father. Why don't you pick the middle name?"

"JJ, it's okay, you don't have to-"

Now it was JJ's turn to interrupt him.

"I want you to. And I'm sure you have something in your mind as well."

"I have, actually. But we don't have to take it, if you don't like it."

"You have to tell me the name, so that I can decide that," she chuckled lightly.

Stroking tenderly over their daughter's head, he muttered: "Well...Emilia."

Looking at JJ uneasily, he was relieved when he saw her smile widely.

"That's beautiful. Hannah Emilia." Giving her daughter a small kiss onto the nose, she asked curiously: "Any particular reason why you like this name?"

"Well, I was thinking... after Emily, you know," Dave explained. Seeing JJ's questioning expression, he went on: "I've hurt her quite a bit as well with my stupid behavior, and, you know, I think she deserves it that we name our girl after her." Realizing that JJ did not entirely know what he was referring to, he continued further. "She confided in me with something a while ago. She probably still hasn't told anyone else, and it's not my place to tell you now, but when she learned what I had done to you, it hit her harder than I realized at first."

JJ nodded: "I saw that she was more angry with you than the others. I've already wondered why, but she didn't say anything, and I didn't want to push." She felt a sting of jealousy at the thought that Emily and Dave had a secret together, but she didn't dwell on it. There was certainly a good reason, why they didn't tell anyone, and thinking about it, JJ knew that Dave had always been a good friend to everyone on the team. They all knew they could come to him with their problems, and she respected that he would keep things a secret if he was asked. In fact, it made her quite happy, knowing that he wouldn't just go and betray anyone's confidence, including hers.

"But you're good again now, right?"

"Yeah, we've talked and she made me see what a bastard I was, but we're all fine again," he confirmed. "So, is it okay for you if we name her after Emily?"

"Of course. I really like the name, and it has a nice ring with Hannah, I think."

"I do, too." He bent over and kissed his daughter's forehead, whispering her name.

He wanted to hold her again, but knowing that he already got some time alone with Hannah and JJ didn't, he settled with watching her in JJ's arms, occasionally stroking her cheeks or her little fingers.

For a few long minutes neither of them said a word as they were contently watching over their daughter's sleep, both lost in thoughts. It was JJ, who interrupted the silence after a while.

"I was thinking. How do you feel about asking Hotch if he wanted to be her godfather?"

Dave smiled at her. "I already had the same idea. He's the one person I trust the most, you know. Besides you of course."

"We can ask him then when he's here. Speaking of which, have you called him already?"

Dave's eyes widened. He'd totally forgotten about calling everyone. Looking at her sheepishly, he murmured: "Sorry..."

Chuckling at his guilty expression, JJ unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn.

"Tired?"

She nodded.

"You should get some sleep then, you've had an exhausting day."

"I know, but I still want to hold her for a while," JJ tried to argue.

"She'll be there in the morning, sweetheart. Let me lie her down," Dave pushed her gently.

Reluctantly agreeing as she felt her eyes grow heavier and heavier, she gave Hannah a goodnight-kiss and let Dave take her out of her arms and over to the small hospital crib that the nurses had put right next to JJ's bed. Carefully placing her into it, Dave kissed her as well.

"Goodnight, princess. I love you. Mommy and Daddy both love you," he whispered before he turned back to JJ.

"Get some rest, Jennifer. Hannah will be right here next to you when you wake up tomorrow," he said, putting the bed back into its original position.

"You still have to call Hotch and the team. And our parents!" JJ reminded him, yawning again.

"And I'm going to do that as soon as you're asleep, honey. I promise," he assured her as he tucked her in and brushed a tender kiss against her temple.

Within a few minutes, JJ was fast asleep, and Dave stood and watched her for another few moments, relishing her beautiful face smiling lightly in her sleep, before he stepped out to make a few phone calls.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The next morning at the early hour of seven am, Dave was woken up by the cheerful voice of his mother, bursting into the room and immediately bending over the baby.

He jerked up from the chair in which he had spent the night in a pretty uncomfortable position, refusing to leave Jennifer's and the baby's side.

"Mama, what are you doing here?" he hissed quietly, not wanting to wake JJ or his daughter up.

The little girl had been up and screaming every few hours, demanding to be fed, and they both didn't get too much sleep, so Dave was quite relieved when they'd finally managed to calm her down for more than just two hours at a stretch.

"What do you think, Davey? Taking a look at my first grandchild of course!" Gracia Rossi retorted.

"What time's it?" Dave muttered, glancing at his watch and continued: "Mama, it's barely seven! Couldn't you have waited for another hour or two?" Remembering their phone call from the evening before, when he had spent at least fifteen minutes to convince her not to come over at once but wait until the morning, he shook his head. His mother was incorrigible.

He was actually surprised that the team hadn't turned up already as well. He'd briefly talked to Hotch, informing him about the baby and asked him to tell the others, stressing that there was no need for them to come by before the next morning, but he reckoned that it wouldn't be long before at least Garcia was to show up.

He'd also phoned JJ's parents, who were quite surprised about how fast things went, and who promised to take the earliest flight from Pennsylvania they could get. They had sounded a bit cold towards him when he first said his name, and he couldn't blame them of course, but when they heard the exciting news, their aloofness had been gone quickly. It didn't tell him anything about how they would act towards him when they met him in person, though, but he knew that he deserved any kind of resentment they would have for him after hurting their daughter so deeply.

Getting up from the chair, he stretched his sore muscles first before he went over to his mother.

"Oh, Davey, she's so beautiful!" Gracia Rossi whispered with tears in her eyes, taking her son's face into her hands and giving him congratulating kisses onto both cheeks.

"And the name is wonderful, too!" She exclaimed as quietly as she could.

Dave hadn't wanted to tell her on the phone, saying that he wanted it to be a surprise until they introduced their little baby to her officially, but persistent as she was, his mother didn't give up until he had informed her about all the details.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" They suddenly heard a sleepy voice.

Turning around, they saw Jennifer trying to sit up in her bed. When she realized that it was Dave's mother whose noise had woken her up, a bright smile formed on her face.

Mrs. Rossi went right over to JJ's bed and drew her into a tight hug.

"Oh, congratulations, Jennifer! This is such a beautiful little girl!" She kissed JJ as well, and almost didn't want to let go of her anymore. "I'm so happy!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Rossi," JJ replied.

"Now, what did I tell you? You can call me Mama!"

"Right, Mama."

Before they could say anything else, Hannah began to stir in her crib, and within seconds, the room was filled with her loud cries. Dave bent down and lifted her up, pressing her to his chest and rubbing her back while whispering soothing words into her ears.

Mrs. Rossi stared in amazement at the wondrous transformation that had happened to her son when she saw how naturally he handled her. A few more happy tears made it down her cheeks as she silently thanked her Creator for giving her this moment.

JJ was amazed, too. Nothing reminded her of the seemingly cold-hearted and stupid bastard anymore that Dave had been only a few short months ago. Thinking about the previous night when he had firmly stood by her side, doing anything to help her take care for Hannah, she was beyond relieved that she wouldn't have to raise her alone. She deliberately blocked out the thought of Dave as anything else but the baby's father, the last thing she wanted to think about at the moment was what might come out of her and him, but seeing him with the baby convinced her that – even if they might never get together as a couple – he would never walk out in their child.

Dave paced around the room, rocking his girl in his arms, and had no intentions of handing her over to Jennifer or his mother, who was eagerly waiting to hold her granddaughter for the first time. JJ exchanged a look with Mrs. Rossi, and both grinned widely. "She already has him wrapped around her little finger," JJ chuckled.

"Davey, let me have her for a minute, please!" His mother demanded.

Reluctantly, he went over to where she was sitting next to JJ's bed and gave her the baby.

"Dave, you'll get her back," JJ snorted, laughing at his less than pleased expression. "It's not like your mother's going to run out of the room and kidnap her."

"Who knows," he muttered to himself, and added firmly when Hannah let out a few short whimpers: "JJ, I'm telling you, it's Daddy's arms she likes best!"

Deep down, of course, he was more than happy to see his mother having her biggest wish fulfilled. It had never occurred to him how much his mother really wanted grandchildren. Sure, she'd been complaining about the lack of Rossi grandbabies on every possible occasion, but it was only at that moment, when he looked at her with Hannah in her arms, that he realized the dream that had come true for her.

While Gracia Rossi was fully concentrated on Hannah, JJ realized that her nanny was still taking care of Henry, and how much she missed him and wanted him to be there with them.

"What's the matter, JJ?" Dave asked her softly, seeing her contemplating expression.

"I was thinking about Henry."

"You know, I called the nanny again last night, and she's going to watch him for as long as we need her," he tried to soothe her.

"Yeah, I know, but I miss him. I'd love to have him here," JJ sighed.

"I'm going to call her and have her bring him here, okay?"

"That would be great. Thanks, Dave."

He pressed a soft kiss into her hair and stepped out of the room.

Coming back ten minutes later, he brought three plastic cups of coffee with him. "I thought you might want to have some as well," he said. "Yours is decaf," he winked at JJ.

They spent the next hour chatting lightly, taking turns in holding Hannah, and letting the nurses fuss around JJ and the baby once the doctor had made a quick stop to check up on them, until the nanny arrived with Henry.

"Ma-ma! Da-da!" he squealed happily as soon as he'd spotted JJ and Dave.

Congratulating JJ and cooing over the newborn for a moment, the nanny excused herself again after a few minutes, leaving the family by themselves again.

Mrs. Rossi couldn't have been more surprised when she heard Henry referring to her son as "Da-da!" Smiling contently, she realized that she might have not only one but two grandchildren in the near future if her son and Jennifer were able to work out their problems, and she made a mental note to try everything within her power to help them with that, because the blonde young woman was everything she'd always imagined in a daughter-in-law.

Seeing Henry bouncing up and down on Dave's lap, she immediately fell in love with him.

"You're such a beautiful little boy, and you look just like your Mama!" she called joyfully.

Henry was a bit shy with her at first, burying his face in Dave's neck, but they all knew that it wouldn't take long for him to take the elderly lady to his heart.

First of all, however, his little sister was more interesting for him.

"Ma-ma! Ba-by!" he exclaimed excitedly, reaching his arms out to try and touch her.

"Yes, Henry, that's your baby sister Hannah!" JJ told him gently. "Do you want to say hello to her?"

"'Nah!" Henry squeaked, trying to get out of Dave's arms. Dave carefully placed him into JJ's free arm, and they all watched raptly how Henry curiously examined his little sister.


	31. Chapter 31

_**A/N: I have been super busy in the past two weeks and couldn't get back to everyone's reviews personally, but I'd like you all to know that I appreciate them all very much!**_

Chapter 31

An hour later, Hannah had had her first breakfast and was now freshly changed slumbering in her mother's arms again while Henry was napping on Dave's lap, and the three adults were quietly talking until they heard a small knock on the door, followed by Hotch sticking his head in.

"Hey, may we come in?"

"Sure," JJ smiled widely as Dave and his mother got up from their seats to make room for Hotch, Prentiss, Morgan, Reid, and Garcia.

Even though they all tried to be as quiet as possible because of the sleeping children, the sudden disturbance woke Hannah up right away, and she began to cry at the top of her lungs.

"There's no doubt that this is your daughter, Dave," Emily snorted dryly, and the others burst into laughter, waking Henry up as well.

Jabbering happily as he recognized all of his aunts and uncles from Mommy's work, he pointed at his little sister. "'Nah!'Nah!" He called out cheerfully, clapping his little hands, and everyone turned to give the newest addition to their BAU family their full attention.

"Aww, she's so cute," Garcia cajoled. "Congratulations, Mommy and Daddy!"

JJ rearranged her in her arms so that everyone could take a good look at her daughter.

"What's her name?" Morgan wanted to know.

"Hannah," JJ answered, prompting Dave with a look to explain her middle name.

"And we decided for Emilia as the middle name," he continued, looking at Prentiss. "After you, Emily," he said softly. "If that's okay with you, of course."

Emily was caught by surprise, and didn't know what to say at first, except for a shortly stammered "After me?"

"Well, yeah. It was Dave's idea," JJ smiled. "And while I don't know his full reasoning behind it, I have to admit that I love the name, and honestly, she couldn't have a better role model, right?"

Emily looked at Dave and immediately understood. Touched, she nodded lightly, feeling a few tears burning in her eyes.

"Thanks, guys. I'm honored," she whispered hoarsely.

"Do we get to know the reason why?" Garcia asked curiously. Emily realized that Dave was still the only one on the team who she'd ever told of her abortion and the events in Rome, but now was not the right place or time to tell everyone else.

"One day, maybe," she told Garcia with a small smile, hoping for her understanding that she didn't want to talk about it at the moment. Seeing her and the others exchange confused looks, she knew, however, that at least Garcia would get back to the topic another time.

Realizing that Emily felt uncomfortable discussing whatever her secret with Dave was, JJ quickly decided to change the subject before there were more questions.

"There's something else. Hotch, Dave and I were talking and we want to ask you if you'd like to be Hannah's godfather." Hotch's eyes lit up and a bright smile appeared on his face.

"Of course." He gently stroked Hannah's cheek. "Thanks you." He smiled gratefully at JJ and Dave while playing with Hannah's fingers. The little girl had stopped crying and stared curiously at him.

"Wanna hold her for a moment?" JJ wanted to know.

Hotch nodded and accepted the little baby from her arms. "Hey, there," he whispered softly. "I'm your Uncle Aaron. I'm gonna be the best godfather you can imagine."

The others were standing around them, waiting impatiently for their turn to hold Hannah while tickling her face or stroking her hair and congratulating the new parents to their beautiful daughter.

Dave, who still had Henry in his arms, took a step back and watched the scene in front of him. Taking a deep, content breath, he was relieved that everything had turned out well. He knew he still had to face JJ's parents, and he was sure that this was not going to be a pleasant first meeting, but seeing that everyone else was standing behind him and JJ, willing to support them as best as they could, there was not much to worry about at the moment.

A hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts. "I hope you won't screw this up again," Morgan said in a warning tone that left no doubt that he'd have Dave's head for real should he ever hurt JJ again.

"I won't," Dave assured him firmly. "Believe me, Morgan, I've learned my lesson."

"Just making sure. Because next time it won't be my fist you'll be looking at, but my gun. And you'd drop dead before you could even reach for your own gun."

"I hear you, Derek. But there won't be a next time."

"Good. I'd hate to deprive that beautiful little girl of her father."

They all spent the rest of the morning admiring the baby until Hotch decided that it was time to get back to work around noon.

JJ and Dave had had to fill them in on all the details of the slightly dramatic events of the past evening, and Garcia was almost a bit sad that she hadn't been around for the show this time.

Dave's mother was deeply impressed by the close-knit group of people her son was working with. What astounded her more than anything else, was that her son, who had always been a loner, working for himself, had found a place in this team, was accepted and highly respected by the younger agents, had even become close friends with them, and was actually enjoying his role. And while she was still quite a bit angry with him for his stupidity that very nearly cost her a grandchild, she also realized that she'd never been prouder of him than at the moment.


	32. Chapter 32

_**A/N: This should have been up this morning, but my laptop and I had a little argument, hence the delay. Problem's fixed now, at least I hope so, and the good news is: there will be another chapter later tonight. I hope everyone still enjoys reading! **_

Chapter 32

When the team left around noon, Rossi's mother went home as well to grab some lunch, as she told JJ and Dave. Dave knew, however, that the main reason behind her temporary absence – she ensured them to be back in the late afternoon – was only that she could inform the whole extended Rossi family and everyone in her neighborhood, whom she hadn't had a chance to talk to already in the morning or the night before, about finally being a grandmother.

As soon as he was alone with JJ and the kids, Dave insisted that JJ took a nap along with Henry and Hannah. He had a nurse bring a small bed for Henry to lay down and it didn't take more than five minutes, and the kids were asleep, the excitement of the morning clearly having worn them down.

JJ chatted lightly with Dave for another short while, but her eyes grew heavier with every minute, and soon she was out too. Watching over her sleep for a few minutes, Dave decided to make a quick trip down to the hospital cafeteria to get some coffee, and grab a few bites to eat as well.

Wandering back through the hospital corridors ten minutes later with a cup of coffee and a bagel in his hands, couldn't believe how fast everything had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Not even a day ago he had thought they would be able to make use of the last few weeks until JJ's actual due date to prepare themselves for their child a bit more, address unresolved issues like how they were going to organize raising their daughter and the like. If it was for him, they'd be together like a real family, but Dave knew that convincing Jennifer that they'd be good together would be one hell of an effort. He couldn't blame her, of course, as he had been the one to shut down and not let anything develop between them in the first place.

Afraid of another commitment that might fail, he had asked for their night together to stay a one-time event, and – if he was honest – he'd been surprised when she had readily agreed, because he actually knew or at least suspected that her feelings for him went beyond friendship. When she didn't even object to his suggestion to put their relationship back onto a platonic stage, however, he hadn't been so sure anymore if she was really feeling more for him. And when she seemed to have no problems at all with forgetting the mind-blowing passion they had shared that one night, acting like her usual self in the following weeks, he'd pushed is own feelings aside, trying to convince his aching heart that they were doing the right thing, that _he_ had done the right thing for both of them by not pursuing anything further.

They had had this wonderful friendship that he didn't want to destroy, and which had become deeper with every day after LaMontagne had left. It was the most functioning relationship he'd ever had with a woman that wasn't his mother. And then her pregnancy had caught him off guard, and he had managed to blow it anyway.

He shook his head at the thoughts of his reaction to that as he entered her room again. He was fairly certain that no one had ever screwed things up bigger than he had. Luckily for him, it had turned out that these things were obviously not shattered beyond repair, that he was actually able to fix them. And if he had learned one thing over the past weeks, then that he would never dismiss his feelings for her again like he did before. He was not going to deny them anymore, he would not let her slip through his fingers again by suggesting to stay friends when they could be so much more.

Looking down on his sleeping daughter, he vowed that he would do anything to bring them together as a real family. He'd do whatever it takes to try and convince Jennifer of his love, for her, for their daughter, and also for Henry, who he refused to see as anything else but his son.

Little did he know at that moment that JJ would make this task the hardest challenge for him in the next few months.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

JJ's parents arrived in the afternoon.

Dave was dozing in the chair he had occupied again beside Jennifer's bed, when they knocked on the door and entered when no one answered.

JJ had just finished feeding Hannah, and the nurse had brought a few bites to eat for Henry as well, and now she was contently sitting in her bed, holding her two children, and letting Henry cuddle with his tiny sister, gently holding him back every time he was unintentionally a bit too rough with her. She couldn't help the grin forming in her face when she had found Dave asleep on the chair next to her bed once she'd woken up from her nap. The position in which he was sitting on there would definitely cause his neck to hurt for a few days, but she had no intention of waking him up. He deserved a few minutes of rest after staying firmly by her side in the past twenty-four hours without getting any real sleep.

Feeding Hannah and Henry, she'd had a few moments for herself to think about the situation.

Her heartbeat sped up as she thought about the sight of him with the children, a flood of warmth running through her body, when she remembered the kiss he'd given her the night before, only minutes before their daughter had been born, but then her mind wandered back to the previous months, and how he had caused her more pain than anyone else ever had in her life.

She knew she had been in love with him for a long time, a feeling that had not subsided, and she was not sure if it ever would, or if she actually wanted it to do so. For a moment, she wished for someone to tell her what to do, but she knew that she had to come to a decision by herself.

With how readily he had accepted the father role all of a sudden over the past weeks, JJ knew that he wanted it all, being a family in the truest sense of the word. But was she ready for that? Could she ever trust him enough for that? She simply didn't know the answers to that questions yet.

As long as she could keep him at bay, she reckoned he would never be able to hurt her again the way he did. Now it was her turn to suggest being friends rather than being lovers. Getting the kind of friendship with him back that they'd had before her pregnancy, would surely be the best thing for her and the children.

Pressing a soft kiss on her daughter's dark hairs, she came to the decision to wait and see how the next few weeks would turn out for her and Dave, how she and Dave would get along. It would hopefully help her realize what they both were supposed to be for each other in the future.

*********

The arrival of her parents pulled her out of her thoughts, and woke Dave up from his nap.

At first, Mary-Ann and Robert Jareau only had eyes for their new grandchild. Numerous oh's and ah's were uttered as they took turns in holding her, and Dave grew more nervous with every minute that passed that they were ignoring him. Whether it was on purpose or because they were simply too stunned with their new granddaughter he didn't know.

Usually he would simply try and leave a good first impression on a love interest's parents by pulling all of his charm, but first of all, JJ wasn't just a simple love interest, and second, with everything that had happened, and what JJ's parents might have heard of him, they certainly already had an opinion about him, and it was safe to assume that it wasn't a good one, so his charms alone wouldn't help him here.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for Dave, JJ interrupted her parents' cooing over the baby and turned their attention to Dave.

"Mom, Daddy, this is David Rossi, Hannah's father. Dave, these are my parents, Robert and Mary-Ann Jareau."

Dave held his hand out and said politely: "Mr. and Mrs. Jareau, it's an honor to finally meet you. Jennifer has told me a lot about you."

JJ's parents stared at him icily for a few seconds, but didn't accept his outstretched hand.

"Under different circumstances I'd say it is a pleasure to meet you, but this does not seem appropriate right now," JJ's mother answered, never even bothering to hide her anger with Dave about what he had done to her daughter.

Robert Jareau didn't say anything at first, just looking Dave over from head to toe.

"How old are you?" He finally asked roughly.

"Daddy!" JJ hissed embarrassed.

"What?" Her father shrugged. "Can you tell me what you were thinking getting involved with a man as old as your father?" Turning to Dave again, he bit out: "Or you, couldn't find a woman your age?"

JJ took a deep breath. She knew her parents would react like that, which was why she hadn't told them Dave's age before, but she couldn't believe that her father would actually embarrass her like that in front of him. If anything, she would have expected them to make their disapproving remarks about the age difference in private, but their anger towards Dave was obviously strong enough to want to slap him in the face. God help her and Dave, when her parents found out that Dave was married three times and divorced as many times.

She had to give Dave credit, though. He never even flinched, let alone blinked at her father's harsh questions, but answered firmly in a calm voice: "I'm 54 years old, sir."

Seeing her mother wanting to add something and her father having another retort on his lips, JJ quickly intervened.

"Mom, Dad, please! I don't want a scene in front of the kids now!"

Then, much to Mr. and Mrs. Jareau's surprise, Henry felt the urge to be on Dave's arm again. He had dozed against his mother's chest while his grandparents were preoccupied with Hannah, but the voices becoming louder and angrier than before had confused him. He crawled down JJ's legs and called for his Da-da again, reaching his hands out for Dave.

JJ's parents were staring in surprise at the scene displaying in front of them, and Dave suddenly felt the overwhelming need for some fresh air, and asked JJ: "Do you mind if I take a little walk with Henry, so that you and your parents can talk?" JJ nodded and he gave her a gentle smile, nodding shortly at her parents, before leaving the room with Henry.

While JJ debated with her parents, and tried to explain them that Dave was a good man, despite what he had done, and that his age was nothing she was willing to discuss with them, Dave went down to the cafeteria again to get a little cupcake for Henry and some strong coffee that he felt he needed now for himself. Watching Henry chew happily on the cake, he felt relieved that his first meeting with JJ's parents was over and that he was actually still alive.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

JJ and Hannah had to stay in the hospital for one week.

Sitting by her side and keeping her company were her parents and Rossi, of course, who had taken leave of absence for that week to be with her and his daughter. Dave's mother paid them a visit every other day, and the team also showed up once before they had to fly out on a case in Arizona.

It had turned out that JJ's parents and Dave's mother liked each other instantly. After only a few minutes of talking to each other, Gracia Rossi and Mary-Ann Jareau had already started to trade recipes and planned family gatherings for various holidays, and JJ and Dave had the sinking feeling that their mothers would be able to overthrow a country when they joined forces.

Robert Jareau had pulled Dave aside for a very serious talk, in which he had made it very clear that Dave would not get away unharmed a second time, should he ever put his daughter through any pain again. Dave had apologized to both him and his wife, and assured them that he had learned his lesson, and that his top priority from now on was to make Jennifer and their children – and he had specifically referred to both Hannah and Henry as his – happy. After a few more well-placed threats, Robert Jareau had accepted Dave's apology and the two men had shaken hands.

Over the course of the week, JJ's parents had slowly gotten used to Dave, although his age was still something they couldn't quite wrap their minds around. But after JJ had asked them again to let go of that topic, they obliged to her request and hoped that with time they would not have to think about it anymore. After all, all that mattered at the moment was that Dave was a good father, which he had proven to them over the week, and they realized that they didn't have to worry about that.

They stayed with Henry at JJ's place every night, while Dave had insisted on being at the hospital with JJ and Hannah at first. But after a little argument with JJ, and his mother taking JJ's side and telling him that he needed some rest, too, which he wouldn't be able to get in a plastic chair in a hospital room, he agreed on staying at his mother's house, as his own place in Little Creek was too far away. Every morning, though, he was the first one to be back at JJ's side, being content with holding Hannah and playing with Henry all day long.

*********

After a week, JJ was released form the hospital. Her parents and Dave's mother had prepared a little brunch for them and the team at her house, and helped JJ and Hannah settle back in. It also served as a little farewell gathering for Robert and Mary-Ann, because they had to go back to their grocery store in JJ's hometown in Pennsylvania.

Finally alone, JJ and Dave sat down to have the talk they'd been pushing off for so long, but now couldn't avoid anymore. This time, Dave did not hesitate and made his intentions very clear: "I want you in my life, Jennifer. You, Hannah, and Henry. I want us all to be together, I want us to be a family."

JJ sighed deeply. She'd known before in the hospital that this was what he wanted, but she didn't know if she wanted it as well. She loved having their friendship back, and there was no doubt that she was very happy that he turned out to be such a good father to Henry and Hannah, but being in a relationship with him was too big a step for her to take just yet. The pain he had caused her was too deeply engrained in her heart to just make it disappear and give in to him, and even though he had apologized to her numerous times and vowed that nothing like that would ever happen again, she remained hesitant.

"Dave, I know you want all that. You've made it very clear, but can we focus on being parents for now, please? I have to get used to taking care of two babies now and this is really enough for me for the moment." JJ knew she was using this as an excuse, but she couldn't help it. She also knew that at some point in the future she would have to give him a definite answer, a clear yes or no to a relationship with him, but right now she didn't feel ready for that.

So she quickly changed the subject and focused on another topic she knew he wouldn't be too happy about.

"I know you would like for Hannah to have your name, Dave, but I decided that I want her last name to be Jareau." When Dave wanted to argue about it, she quickly explained: " I've already filled out the sheet for the birth certificate, and for the moment, I don't want to change that, okay? Henry's name is Jareau as well, as you know, and I want the children to have the same last name. I hope you can understand that."

Seeing Dave nod in defeat, and with obvious disappointment in his eyes, she added: "That does not make you any less her father, Dave. I want us both to have the same rights as parents."

Deep down, he knew she had a point, he understood her argumentation, but for some reason it hurt him pretty much that JJ would make such a decision without asking him about it before. He didn't want to argue at the moment, but he secretly swore to himself to make her his wife and Henry his son as soon as possible, so they could all live together with the same name.

*********

Over the following weeks of JJ's maternity leave, Dave stayed with her and the kids every night, when they were not away on a case. And when they were, he made sure to call her at least twice a day to hear how they were doing, to hear JJ's and Henry's voices and Hannah's cries. He'd never thought that these simple things wold make him happier than he'd ever been in his life, but there he was, enjoying every minute of being able to be with his children and Jennifer, or hearing them over the phone, and feeling empty and lonely when he wasn't with them.

When they were at home, he and JJ usually brought the kids to bed together after dinner and then talked for another few hours or watched TV together. The couch in her living room was his bed during the week and on the weekends he took them out to his house in Little Creek, where they would take long walks in the countryside or simply enjoying the peace and quiet it had to offer. On the Sundays they usually were either at his mother's place for brunch or Gracia was with them at Little Creek.

There was no doubt that they were growing together as a family, and no one who saw them would have guessed that they were anything else than happy parents of two young children.

Dave, of course, tried on several occasions to get JJ to make a decision concerning their relationship. But every time he asked her out on a real date between only the two of them, she'd brushed him off, saying that she still needed time.

"How much time, JJ?" Dave burst out a little annoyed one day, knowing that he was being impatient, but couldn't help it.

"I don't know, Dave! Why can't we just keep things as they are now? I mean, we're doing a good job of taking care of our children together, and we're having our wonderful friendship again, and I don't want anything to destroy what we have right now!" JJ pleaded.

It didn't go unnoticed by Dave that she referred to both kids as 'their' children, something she had never done before, but he didn't call her on it right now. Not knowing if she had noticed it as well, if it was just a slip or if she'd said it on purpose, he decided to take it as a good sign, and to slowly keep pushing her until he would finally get a definite answer out of her.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

"David, for the fifteenth time, I am NOT staying behind on this case, nor am I going to do it on any other case we will have in the future!" JJ groaned as they made their way to the airfield to leave for a triple-murder case in Colorado.

JJ had been back from her maternity leave for two days, and to say these past forty-eight hours had been challenging was putting it mildly. In fact, it had already started in her last weeks at home, when Dave had uttered his concerns about JJ being out in the field again, with two babies waiting for her, two babies who needed their mother safe and sound. She had brushed him off by questioning his role as a field agent, and playing the age card: "We're both highly trained agents, Dave, but your reflexes might be a little bit rusty compared to mine considering your age and all. What if you're too slow to duck when an Unsub tries to shoot you? The children need their father as well, you know. Besides, you're the one with a prolific career as a bestselling author. How about going back to that?"

Not wanting to start a fight with her, especially not when he was still trying to win her for himself, he let the subject go. Ar least until JJ's first day back.

Seeing her bent over a load of casefiles her replacement had left at her desk, he couldn't help himself: "You know, you're really good at this," he said, using his most charming tone.

"What?"

"This. The paperwork. No one's as accurate and detailed as you are at it."

"Dave, what are you trying to tell me here?" JJ rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

"I'm just acknowledging your work, that's all."

"I've been back for what, two hours? And you're already trying to trick me into taking a desk job? Your charm's not going to work here," she bit out.

"Jennifer, look, you're a valuable member of this team, I'd never deny that, but you could as well be that from Quantico. You don't need to put yourself in any danger," he tried to reason with her.

"You never had a problem with me being in the field before, Dave," JJ sighed.

"But you have kids now!"

"You didn't complain when I came back after Henry's birth. Why now?"

"It's different now! And I can assure you that I was worried just the same when you came back after Henry. I just didn't say anything."

"Good, then maybe you could keep your mouth shut now as well, and let me do my job. As you can see, I have enough to do for today, discussing with you only takes my attention away from the paperwork I'm so good at, as you just told me." JJ couldn't help the sarcastic tone.

Seeing his tense face, she quickly continued: "Tell me, Dave, what are you and the team doing without me on a case? Who's going to do the press conferences? Who's going to make nice with the local LEO's? You?" She snorted dryly at that image.

"If you remember, I've given a lot of interviews and dealt with countless reporters as an author," Dave answered tightly.

"Yes, to present yourself and your books! And even that went terribly wrong a few times! You have the very rare talent to piss absolutely everyone off wherever you show up! Besides, how do you think you and the team are going to solve any case when there's no one to serve as a buffer with the media, and when you can't focus on your profiling alone but have to deal with millions of other things apart from that? Things I'm here for to deal with!"

The argument went on, or rather, went around in circles, for another few minutes until JJ simply threw him out of her office.

Trying to talk to Hotch about JJ's resistance, Dave had to realize that the Unit Chief was entirely on JJ's side. "Dave, shut up and do your job. And let JJ do hers. She's good at it, remember?" Nodding tersely at his friend's words, the same as he and JJ had both used just minutes before, he went out, and down to the bullpen, where he tried to convince the rest of their team, only to find that each and every one of them was also standing firmly on Jennifer's side, deaf for his arguments and reasoning.

But he wouldn't be Dave if he'd just given up. At lunch he'd taken the next opportunity to make JJ see reason, as he thought of it.

That, however, only resulted in JJ refusing to speak with him throughout their whole break, ignoring his very presence at the lunch table, and making sure that they would not spend any more lunch breaks together until he had calmed down.

And now they had their first case after JJ's return, and Dave decided to make a last attempt, knowing deep down, that he'd already lost that battle.

"Henry and Hannah need-"

JJ cut him off immediately. "They will both be fine with your mother. You of all people should know that. And Garcia has promised me to check on them as well, so nothing to worry about."

She smiled at that thought. Penelope Garcia and Gracia Rossi had become quite a unique team over the last few weeks. JJ had to restrain her laughter at the memory of the fearful expression on Dave's face when both women had ordered him around on the day JJ had come home from the hospital. Within a few hours, his mother had managed to win the whole team over, and he had quickly realized that he was on borrowed time from now on. No matter how small a mistake he would make, he probably wouldn't even live long enough to see the consequences.

"Dave, I promise I'll be careful. I won't take any unnecessary risks," JJ said, hoping that it would finally stop him from arguing.

"Fine. I'll let it go. For now!" Dave growled as they stepped up the stairs of the BAU's jet. "But rest assured that I'll get back to that topic should anything go wrong in the field."

Of course, nothing went wrong. JJ did her job the way she always did it, watched closely by Dave, of course, and they caught their Unsub within three days.

She had to admit to herself, however, that being at work again was harder than she'd imagined. She missed her children more than she would have thought, and having them on the phone every night was far from being enough. She had taken a small photo album with her that she looked at every night before she went to bed, and Garcia had even set up a video chat one evening from Dave's mother's house, so that he and JJ could also see Henry and Hannah and not only hear their voices. It was in these moments, that JJ – and also Dave – knew exactly why they did their job. To make the world a little bit better, a little bit safer for their children.

After they had closed the case, the team decided to take a late night flight home to Virginia. They were all exhausted and tired and it didn't take long until one by one they all fell asleep in their seats. JJ and Dave were the only ones who couldn't sleep. JJ's mind was filled with thoughts of Hannah and Henry, so much that she couldn't get some rest, and Dave refused himself to fall asleep as long as JJ was still awake.

Getting up from his seat opposite to her, he went to the back of the plane to get some water for her and himself, and dropped back into the seat next to her. Handing her the small water bottle, he caught her thankful smile, and was relieved that she didn't seem to be mad at him anymore. He knew she had been less than pleased with him on this case, as he was watching over her the whole time, but he hadn't been able to help himself. They had been too busy to talk about it, though, during the past three days, and he had to admit that he wouldn't have known what to say anyway. He'd been impressed with her work again, realizing that there was no way this team could ever do without her, and in the end he felt quite ashamed that he hadn't trusted her doing her job, that he had doubted her abilities.

"You did a great job on this case. You always do," he finally said softly, breaking the silence they'd been sitting in for a few minutes.

Surprised by his unexpected words, JJ raised her head to look at him. He chuckled. "Don't look at me like you don't believe me. You know you were good."

JJ shook her head lightly and smiled to herself.

"Thanks Dave. It means a lot to hear you say this," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," he apologized. "I wasn't at my best behavior again in the past week. I had no right to tell you how to do your job." He took her hand and linked their fingers, squeezing it softly to reassure his apology.

"You're right. But, honestly, I had expected no less. You wouldn't have been yourself if you had just kept your mouth shut and accepted my return to work without an argument. But it's good to hear that you realize you've been wrong. That's a first," she said gently.

"Hey, I have no problems admitting when I'm wrong!" Dave burst out as quietly as he could without waking the others.

"Relax, Dave, I was just teasing you," JJ smirked at him.

They fell silent for a moment until JJ began to speak again.

"It's not easy to be back, you know. I miss Hannah and Henry."

"Yeah, I know," Dave answered. "I miss them, too. I'm glad we'll be home in a few hours."

He pulled back the armrest between their seats and pulled JJ closer to him.

"Why don't we get some sleep as well."

Feeling his arms wrapped around her, she wanted to argue at first, but the strength and security they provided felt too good that she didn't want to let go of it at the moment. Resting her head against his chest, she listened to his strong and steady heartbeat that managed to relax her completely, and within a few minutes, they were both fast asleep.


	36. Chapter 36

_**A/N: Only a short chapter this time, but the writing wouldn't really flow, and I decided to split it up to work over the rest of the chapter again tomorrow. **_

Chapter 36

"Hey, you wanna go out for dinner and maybe a movie on Saturday?" Dave asked JJ as they walked up the way to her apartment complex. They had landed at about 1.30 am and everyone went straight home, to get at least a few hours of rest before they had to be back in the office in the morning.

JJ and Dave decided to leave the children with his mother over the night and pick them up after work the next day.

"I can't. I promised Emily and Penelope we would have a girl's night on Saturday. We haven't had one in quite a while, and they've been begging me for ages to get together again."

"Oh, okay." Dave tried to sound casually, but JJ didn't miss the disappointment in his voice. She felt guilty for turning him down again, but this time she actually had a reasonable excuse for it. Sooner or later – sooner rather than later considering the long time she'd already kept him at an arm's length – she knew she had to make a decision as to where she wanted to go with him, and she figured that some good old girl talk could be of great help with that. Besides, she knew it wasn't fair to Dave for keeping him hanging like that.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" She asked him as she rummaged around in her purse to find her keys.

"No, it's okay. I'll just drive home," Dave answered. Of course he'd spent many a night on her couch ever since Hannah had arrived, but that was only because of the children. Now that they were at his mother's house, he felt like he'd impose JJ's privacy. But deep down he was elated by her offer.

"Don't be silly, Dave. It's two am, and we're both exhausted. There's no need for you to take an almost sixty minutes drive back to your place in the middle of the night." She opened the door and practically pushed him inside.

Accompanying him over the living room, she threw her bag and purse onto a recliner and pointed at the couch. "The blanket and the pillow are still there. If you need anything else, just help yourself. You knew where everything is."

"Sure. Thanks, JJ."

Not knowing what to say, they looked at each other for a moment, hoping the other would make a start, smiling at each other sheepishly. Dave knew what he wanted to say, but he was not sure how JJ would take it at this time of the night, so he just stayed silent.

"Well, I'll just head to bed then. Goodnight, Dave." JJ turned around to walk over to her bedroom, when she heard him call after her.

"Yeah?" Turning to face him again, she saw that he had something on his mind, but couldn't get the words out. "What is it, Dave?"

Blowing out is breath, he lowered his head and said softly: "Nothing. Goodnight, JJ." Again, he thought, now was not the right time to talk about their situation and his feelings.

"Night."

He wanted to turn around and get his makeshift bed ready, but then something snapped in his mind, and instead, before he could even think about what he was doing, he gently grabbed JJ's arm and pulled her to him. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she realized what was about to happen. Pulling her into his arms, he brought his lips to hers, and kissed her fiercely. A jolt excitement rushed through her body at the feel of his warm, soft lips, but the mixture of surprise, excitement, and her mind screaming with confusion, only left her paralyzed and unable to respond to the kiss. Realizing what he was doing, Dave broke the contact again, before giving JJ the chance to sort out her thoughts and react. Keeping her close to him, he met her confused gaze and whispered softly: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Dave, I- I can't," JJ replied barely audible, her fear of getting hurt again taking over.

"I know. I'm sorry." This time he didn't bother to hide his disappointment.

Reluctantly loosing his arms from her, he wasn't so sure anymore, if he would ever get a chance to win her back.

"We'll talk, Dave. I promise." JJ took his and and pressed it reassuringly.

"When?" He asked, not quite believing her words. "You've been putting me off for weeks now!"

JJ knew he was right. Hoping that her girl talk with Emily and Penelope would make her come up with a few answers for herself, she said: "Soon."

Dave simply nodded in defeat, not wanting to pick up a fight in the middle of the night.

If he had known then what the women would come up with, though, he'd taken his chance right now and wouldn't have stopped talking until he got a definite answer out of her.


	37. Chapter 37

_**A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, if anyone can give me the last two days back, I'd be eternally grateful ;-). **_

_**Anyway, I'm on my way out again, and this is all I have typed and edited so far, even though the next chapter is already written again. Will post that and the last chapter to "Dates And Other Difficulties" tomorrow. **_

_**I had originally written the girls night, but didn't really like how it came out. After rewriting the chapter, it still didn't work, I couldn't seem to get the tone right, so I decided to skip it and just move forward. Hope you don't mind.**_

* * *

Chapter 37

A couple of days later, JJ found herself back at the office after a short case in Oklahoma. The team had been called in on Sunday morning, much to JJ's, Garcia's and Emily's chagrin as they were fighting a hangover from their gathering the previous evening.

JJ had planned on talking with Dave right after her evening with the girls, which had turned out to be quite instructive, but since the case had screwed her plans, she didn't have a chance yet.

Now, she debated with herself if she should go and pay him a visit in his office, or if she should wait until they were at home. Neither of them had mentioned their kiss, and Dave had kept his distance in the past couple of days; it almost seemed as if he was withdrawing himself from her after she had rejected him again. JJ knew that what she wanted to talk to him about wouldn't make it easier for him, but it would hopefully help her find out what she really wanted. At least that was what Garcia and Prentiss had assured her.

JJ had explained everything to them, their situation, how Rossi felt about her, what he wanted from her, that he was the most wonderful father she could imagine having for her children. Everything. She had realized that it was her own feelings she wasn't sure about. She couldn't tell if she loved Dave for himself or just because he was such a wonderful father to Henry and Hannah. She was confused, because on the one hand she wanted nothing more than just give in to him, on the other hand she knew it wouldn't be fair to him if she wasn't in with her whole heart.

For Emily and Penelope it had been more than obvious that JJ was head over heels in love with Dave, her love for him shining in her eyes every time she mentioned his name, every time she told them little stories about Dave and the children, about how firmly he stood by her side and supported her, about what an incredible friend he was. They were surprised that JJ didn't realize it herself, but whatever they told her wasn't enough to convince her. For every argument they brought, JJ knew another one to rebut what they said.

"I like the status quo. I love our friendship, I love how wonderful he is with Hannah and Henry. This could all be gone if I pursue a relationship with him and it doesn't work out in the end," she argued. And then it was Garcia who had come up with the idea of seeing other men.

"Have you thought about going out on dates again, gumdrop?" She had asked, and JJ had to admit that Agent Anderson had already asked her out twice, but she had declined so far.

"And the thing is, I was actually interested. How can I think I love Dave, when at the same time I'm thinking about dating another man?"

In the end she couldn't argue with Garcia's logic. "Go out with Anderson. And with other guys if you need to. If you fall in love with someone else, you know Rossi's not the one. Either way, you'll find out what you want."

That was why she had taken up Anderson on his offer to take her to dinner Friday night. All that was left to do now was to tell Dave about it, and hope that he wouldn't freak out. Deciding that the sooner he learns about it, the better, she made her way through the bullpen up to his office.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"You're going to do what?" Dave couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"I'm having a date with Agent Anderson on Friday," JJ replied calmly, knowing that raising her voice was not advisable at the moment.

Dave felt as if someone had pulled the rug from under him, and hissed angrily: "Is that what your two brilliant friends have come up with last Saturday?" He had honestly not expected this. At the very most, he had expected her to ask for more time to become clear about her feelings, but that Garcia and Prentiss were able to talk her into dating someone else, was too much for him to comprehend right now.

"You can't! Fuck Garcia and Prentiss and what they've told you, but you can't!" He yelled loudly, making JJ lose her composure as well. And to think that she had actually planned on staying calm and talk this through with him! But this reaction was not anything she would tolerate.

"I'm sorry, Dave, but you have no right to tell me what I can or cannot do! I'm very much capable of making my own decisions, and I have decided to go out with Anderson! Last time I checked, I was a single woman, so there's nothing you can do about it, but to suck it up and get over it! And don't you dare insult my friends again!" She stormed out of his office and slammed the door behind her, leaving a stunned David Rossi standing in the middle of the room, wondering if the last ten minutes had just happened or if he had only dreamed them.

_I've lost her! _The thought began to scream louder and louder in his mind, fueling his anger even more. He was angry with JJ for doing this to him, for actually considering to go out with this sneaky little bastard; he was angry with Anderson for making a move on his – HIS! – woman, angry with Garcia and Prentiss for talking her into this shit. But he was most angry with himself, for letting her slip through his fingers, for having waited so patiently. And for what? For nothing.

Cursing himself over and over again for all of his mistakes, for everything he had done to her, for being such a goddamn idiot, he yanked the bottle of Scotch out of his desk that he had still kept there even though he had promised his mother to get rid of it all those months ago, and took a healthy sip. Sinking down on his couch, he let his mind becoming overwhelmed with dark and moody thoughts, and before he noticed, the whiskey was gone.

"What the-", he murmured, looking at the bottle in disbelief before throwing it through the room, not caring where it landed, or who became aware of his outburst.

A few moments later, Hotch came in, alarmed by the sudden noise in the office next to his.

"Is everything okay, Dave?" He asked concerned. Seeing the empty whiskey bottle on the floor, he furrowed his eyebrows, knowing that there was only one reason, only one person who could drive him to drink on the job.

"JJ again?"

Rossi nodded and tried to get up, only to stumble forward and fall down on his knees.

"Need more-," he pressed out as he tried in vain to push himself up again. Hotch quickly went over to help him up, which was easier said than done with Dave moving to get up himself.

"Dave, hold still! Let me help you," he told him, finally managing to get his friend back onto the couch.

"S'methin' t'drink," Dave mumbled, his speech slurred by the alcohol he had consumed, having no intention at all to stay where he was.

"Dave! Sit down!" Hotch ordered. "You're going to hurt yourself!" Struggling to keep Dave in place, he added: "Jesus, did you empty the whole bottle? How much had been in there?"

"Not 'nuff," Dave muttered.

"Hell, you're totally inebriated! You've definitely had enough!"

"No!" Dave whined.

The game went on for another few minutes until Hotch realized that Dave wouldn't give up until he got some more Scotch. He would have to find a way to get him home before he could do more harm to himself.

Seeing Reid walking by on the way to his office, he quickly called him in.

"Reid, get JJ here now! She needs to talk some sense into this guy."

"Uhm, she went home about five minutes ago," Reid answered. "What's wrong with him?"

Hotch let out a small curse. Damn, she was the only one who could tell him what had happened, as Dave refused to talk, only demanding more liquid.

"He's drunk, obviously. I haven't got a clue why, but as usual, it has to do with JJ," he told Reid.

"Oh. JJ was a bit agitated as well when she left," Reid commented.

"Can you bring him some strong coffee, please?" Hotch asked, and Reid went out to get it.

"No! No coffee!" Dave complained. "Want the good stuff!"

"Okay, Dave," Hotch conceded, trying to calm him down. "We're going to get you the good stuff."

He had a sudden, brilliant idea how to get Dave to talk and sober him up, and it involved the only other person who could knock some sense into the older profiler.


	39. Chapter 39

_**A/N: Thank you very much everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I appreciate your feedback a lot! I hope to be able to update a bit more regularly from now on, and to get back to everyones' reviews personally again! **_

* * *

Chapter 39

Fifteen minutes later and with the collective help of Morgan and Reid, Hotch had managed to get Rossi strapped in his car.

"Wher're we goin'?" Rossi moaned.

"Go get you the good stuff you wanted, Dave," Hotch answered and pulled out of the parking garage, hoping that his friend wouldn't realize too soon where they were headed or he might start a riot in his car.

Luckily for him, Dave just laid his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes, the sudden movements of the car making him dizzy. He didn't know how long they were driving, but when the car suddenly stopped, he was relieved that the movements had come to a halt. Opening his eyes, it took him a few moments to take in his environment and to determine where they were, but after Hotch had helped him out of the car, Dave noticed that they were standing in front of his mother's house.

"Aaron," he pressed out. "Bastard." He stumbled around and tried to get back into the car, but Hotch held him back.

"Thanks, Dave, very kind, as always," Hotch retorted sarcastically.

"Need t'go 'way," Dave slurred and took a few steps away from the car when he realized that he didn't have a chance to get in.

"Oh no, Dave," Hotch stopped him and grabbed him by the arms. "We are going to see your mother now. I bet she has a lot of good stuff for you in there." They struggled with each other for a while until Hotch had the upper hand again and managed to drag Dave up the stairs to the front door and rang the doorbell.

"What'd I ev'r do t'you?" Dave whined. "You're tryin' t'get me ex'cuted!"

"No one's trying to get you executed, Dave. But it's either JJ or your mother now," Hotch replied matter-of-factly. "And trust me Dave, in your current state, it's better for you to deal with your mother rather than the mother of your daughter. You don't want JJ to send you to hell for good, do you?"

"Sh'already did," Dave muttered, and then stared up into his mother's face, which had appeared in the door.

"What a surprise!" Gracia exclaimed happily. "Davey! Mr. Hotchner! What are you doing here?" Her joy over the unexpected guests, however, vanished quickly as she saw the inebriated condition her son was in, barely able to stand.

"What have you done now, son?" She asked tightly and pierced a dark glare into his eyes.

"N'thin', Mama, 'swear!" Dave raised to crossed fingers to support his statement. "T'was all Jen-Jenn'fer this time."

He stumbled forward into the house, quickly followed by Hotch, who tried his best to keep him up and standing.

"Need s'methin' t'drink," Rossi mumbled, aiming for his mother's living room, where he knew she kept some Scotch for him when he came to visit her, but Hotch held him firmly at his side.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rossi," he said apologetically to Gracia. "But I didn't want to leave him alone."

"It's all right, Mr. Hotchner," Dave's mother said. "Thank you very much for bringing him here. He obviously needs someone to set him straight again."

They both pulled Dave over to Gracia's bathroom and pushed him inside, not listening to his noisy complaints.

"Are you fine with him alone?" Gracia wanted to know. When Hotch nodded, she added before she left the room: "Good. I'll go over to the kitchen and get the coffee started."

"No coffee," came a loud groan from Dave as he again made an attempt to escape Hotch's grip.

Hotch simply pushed him into the shower, blocked the entrance and shrugged out of his jacket. Rolling back the sleeves of his shirt, he turned on the water before Dave got another chance to run away. The ice cold water flowing down Dave's head made him jerk violently and yell angrily: "Fuck, Hotch! What're you doin'?"

A few minutes later Dave had visibly sobered up, now shivering from the cold, wet clothes that were sticking on his body. He began to realize what he had done, knowing that the pounding headache that was already beginning to form would make him deeply regret his uncontrolled abuse of alcohol later.

That was, of course, if he lived long enough to regret anything after his mother was done with him.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Wrapped in a big, white bathrobe that he kept at his mother's house along with other things in case he stayed with her over night, Dave made his way to the living room a few minutes later, mentally bracing himself for his mother reading him the riot act. Although he still wasn't able to walk a straight line, he was now halfway sobered up, trying to get his brain to function again and help him come up with a proper explanation for his blackout. Just as he and Aaron sat down opposite to each other on the couch and an armchair, Gracia came in with an extra large mug of coffee and placed it on the table in front of her son.

"Drink!" She ordered firmly, then looking at Hotch: "There's also some coffee brewing for us. It should be ready in a minute." She glared at Dave, daring him to disobey her order, until he took a large sip, grimacing at the strong bitterness of the black liquid, before she went back into the kitchen again.

Staring into the coffee, Dave purposely avoided Hotch's gaze. He knew he had screwed up again, and he felt genuinely ashamed about it, especially since the whole office seemed to have taken notice of it. But he couldn't help it. His heart was broken, and he didn't know how much more it could take before it shattered into millions of pieces which could not be repaired anymore.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Hotch asked, breaking the silence after a few moments.

Dave shrugged: "For what? It doesn't change anything if I talk about it."

Hotch shook his head. He obviously wouldn't get somewhere with him with being nice and patient.

"Well, as Unit Chief it is my duty to know why someone on my team was drinking on the job. Not for the first time, if you remember." He stared at Dave, who still wasn't impressed and didn't even bother to raise his head and look at him.

"Fine, if you want to behave like a stubborn toddler, go ahead. But let me be very clear about one thing. I will not tolerate this again! Legendary profiler or not, Dave, next time I catch you getting drunk in the office, it's going to have consequences. I need my team to be intact an fully functioning, and I don't have the time nor do I want to play babysitter for one of my staff. What if we had been called away on a case? Is that the kind of impression and example you want to set for the local detectives?"

Expecting his friend to give him one of his famous, arrogant 'I don't give a shit' replies, he was puzzled when the older man simply sat there, looking defeated. "Oh my, whatever it is, it must be really bad," he thought, and was glad when Mrs. Rossi walked back into the den with the coffee for herself and him. Maybe she would get him to open up, or at least her presence would make him answer his questions.

Waiting for her to sit down next to her son, Hotch half expected her to start with her rant right away, but was surprised when she simply took Dave's hand and rubbed it soothingly. Dave was apparently just as surprised, because he looked up cautiously, almost as if he expected her to trick him to face her and then blow her anger right onto him.

Instead he saw the same loving look that she'd had when she'd been consoling his seven-year-old self because the girl next door had laughed at him and run away when he'd told her that he liked her. "Oh, Davey," she sighed, brushing her hand over his cheek.

He wanted to lean into her embrace and let her hold him, just like he did as a child, but Hotch's presence kept him from doing it. As much as he liked and trusted Aaron, breaking down into his mother's arms in front of him was still nothing he wanted him to witness. Gathering his thoughts, he was about to start telling them the events of the afternoon, but Hotch beat him to it and spoke first. " Unit Chief aside, Dave, I'm also your friend. Let me help you."

Dave tried to give him a thankful smile, but wasn't sure if he succeeded. "She wants to date another man," he finally said softly. "She's going out with Anderson Friday night."

"That's it?" Hotch asked surprised, having expected something much more serious like JJ ending their friendship for good or taking the kids away from him. At least that was what Dave's mood suggested. He quickly understood, however, that for his friend this was just as serious as if she had ended things for good, knowing that Dave had always hoped for a relationship with their colleague.

He wanted to add some comforting words, but Dave, not liking that Aaron took things so lightly, burst out: "What do you mean, that's it? Isn't that enough? Or perhaps you're encouraging this, her? Did you help Prentiss and Garcia plotting against me and talking JJ into this shit?" He raged, and Hotch actually had to suppress a smirk at this rant. Sometimes he really wondered if the cool and collected profiler Dave usually was at work, and the hot-blooded Italian he seemed to be outside work were the same person.

"Davey, please! Mind your temper," Gracia interfered, laying appeasing hand on Dave's arm. "I don't think any of this is Mr. Hotchner's fault. He's just here to help you."

"I know," Dave sighed deeply and leaned back into the couch. "God, I just feel so lost. I don't know, I guess I didn't realize that this could happen. She'd been keeping me at an arm's length ever since Hannah's here, but I thought that she just needed time, you know. I should have seen it. I should have known when I kissed her and she pushed me away," he admitted softly. Speaking the words out loud seemed to make it even more real and final for him, and he could say that he'd never felt so broken-hearted before, not with any of his previous wives or girlfriends. He grabbed the coffee mug again and downed the rest of its content.

"I'm sorry for my behavior today, Aaron," he apologized to Hotch. "It won't happen again."

Both Dave's mother and his longtime friend looked at him sympathetically. It was obvious hot much Dave loved JJ, how much he wanted to be together with her, and seeing him so defeated was hard to watch, especially for Gracia. She, too, had dreamed of JJ officially becoming a part of the Rossi family, and she couldn't, nor wanted to believe that her son didn't have a chance with her anymore.

"Look, Davey. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems. She's just going out for dinner," she tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah right," Dave snorted. "And what's next? Before we know it she's moving in with this guy, and then I'm going to end up a weekend-dad just like Aaron was with Jack, and he's going to take my place as a father for Henry and Hannah."

"Davey, don't exaggerate!"

"Really, Dave, your flair for the dramatic is taking over again."

"What, you think that's not going to happen?"

"Not if you fight for her."

Dave's mother nodded eagerly at Hotch's words.

"I've been fighting for her for months! She knows exactly what I want and how I feel, and yet, she still feels the need to go out with someone else. What do you think does that tell me? I don't think I can do it anymore. I'm tired of fighting." Lowering his head again, he wished that he was just dreaming all of this, he hoped for someone to pinch him and wake him up. But all he heard was Aaron's voice trying to convince him not to give up.

"Do you remember what you told me once?" Hotch prompted. "That if there had been children in any of your marriages you would have tried harder to make it work? For Hannah's and Henry's sake, Dave, don't give up."


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Hotch and his mother had finally managed to cheer Dave up a bit. He still felt this mind-numbing pain that he might have lost the love of his life for good, even though he tried to be rational and convince himself that maybe it wasn't all as bad as it looked at the moment. At least he knew what he had to fight for. Hannah and Henry. He might not be able to make Jennifer realize that they belonged together, but he sure as hell wouldn't be standing there and watch how he got pushed back as the children's father.

After they had talked for another while, Gracia had offered to cook some dinner, but Hotch had declined, wanting to go home to Jack. Dave, too, wanted to go see JJ and the children before they went to bed, realizing that they were probably expecting him just like every other night.

"You really shouldn't be driving anymore tonight, Dave," Hotch said. "Besides, your car's still at Quantico. I can take you to JJ's if you want to."

Dave agreed and quickly got dressed again, his clothes halfway dried, before they said goodbye to his mother. Hotch already went out to the car, as Gracia was drawing her son into a bone-crushing hug, giving them a few moments for themselves.

"Don't worry too much, Davey. I'm sure everything's going to sort itself out," she said gently.

"Thanks Mama. For everything tonight." Dave kept holding her for a little longer than usual, showing her how grateful he was for having her, knowing how much she loved holding her only son.

"It's my job, remember? I'm always here for you if you need me, you know that," she replied, giving him a kiss. Bending down to do the same, he whispered tenderly: "I love you, Mama."

xxx

On the short ride to JJ's apartment, Dave and Hotch barely spoke, and when they did it was only meaningless small talk. Hotch reminded his friend to keep a civil tone with JJ, knowing that Dave had a tendency to lash out when he felt hurt, and it definitely wouldn't help his case if he upset her.

"Good luck, Dave." Dave only nodded and gave Hotch a short "Thanks, Aaron" before getting out of the car. He would thank his friend more properly for everything in the morning, but right now his main focus was JJ.

Walking up the stairs to the front door, he felt his heart clench again. What if this was over soon? What if he wouldn't be able to come to her house anymore and see his kids every night? He hesitated to put the key into the lock over these thoughts and sank down on the stairs.

Was he really exaggerating as his mother had said? Was he reading too much into JJ having a date with someone else? One date did not mean she was getting married to this guy right away. "That's right," he thought to himself. "It's just dinner, nothing else." He started to repeat this in his head like a mantra, willing himself to believe in the words as they ran through his head. Once he figured he had calmed down considerably, he got up and went inside before he could change his mind. He found JJ and the kids in the living room.

"You're late," JJ stated as he walked past her to scoop his daughter up from the playpen. Gently kissing her forehead and cradling her against his chest, he answered: "I was at my mother's."

"You could have called."

Feeling a bit of anger rise in himself at her words, he turned and hissed, more sharply than he had intended: "We're not together, JJ. So why bother?" He immediately regretted the words once they were out. He didn't want to hurt JJ, especially not when she had asked a reasonable question, considering that he had spent almost every night since Hannah's birth at her place.

"Dave, are you okay?" He heard her ask. She didn't sound as if she had any doubts as to why he was being angry like that. Of course she knew that her date confession had thrown him off balance for a while. So he didn't even bother to try and sound convincing when he pressed out: "I'm okay." Clearly she had to know that he was not.

Yet, he didn't want to fight with her. Not now, when he still felt and knew he could only be unreasonable, and not in front of the children.

"Let's just get the kids to bed and them I'm outta here." He went over to sit down in front of the couch where Henry was playing and let the little boy crawl into his lap. Looking up, he saw JJ stare at him in disbelief.

"What's that supposed to mean now? You're always staying here during the week."

"Well, maybe we should both start to get used to me not being here as often anymore, shall we?" He spat out. "Great," he thought sarcastically. "Not fighting in front of the kids is really working well."

"What?" JJ clearly couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you telling me you don't want to be with your children anymore?"

"I would never not want to be with them. Or you. You should know that!" His voice was getting louder and more accusing. "But I'm sure your new boyfriend wouldn't be too happy with me spending my nights at your place."

"My boyfriend? This is our first date!"

"First, huh? That implies you're already wanting to have a second date with him!" Dave was all but shouting now, while his mind was yelling at him to shut up before he could cause more damage. He saw JJ having a retort on her lips, but a small whimper from Hannah in his arms stilled them both in their argument. Looking down on her sleepy face was all he needed to calm down.

"I don't want to fight, JJ, okay? Let's just drop it," he said almost softly, hoping she would get the hint and not pick up the fight right now.

"Dave, please tell me what's going on!"

He thought for a second, and then replied as calmly as he could: "You were right. You're single and I have no right to interfere with your love life."

"Now that doesn't sound very convincing. Why don't we talk about everything?"

"No. I don't want to talk about it. I've tried for months, and you wouldn't listen. Now I don't want to talk anymore. I get it. You don't want to be with me. I'll get over it."

He got up with both Henry and Hannah in his arms and went over to the nursery with them, leaving a stunned JJ behind. Changing them into their pajamas, he didn't notice JJ standing in the door and watching him. He was lost in his thoughts, mostly angry about himself that he was on his way to ruin whatever was left of his relationship with JJ. This was not going as he had intended it, and he knew that if he continued to act like that, he was probably going to push her into that jerk's arms himself. "Pull yourself together!" He mentally scolded himself. "If not for yourself, then for them!"

He didn't look up when JJ came over and took Hannah out of his hands, laying her down in her crib. Doing the same thing with Henry, he kissed both the kids goodnight and went back into the living room again.

"Dave-" JJ called for him after she'd closed the door to the nursery.

"JJ, please, not now. Look, I'm sorry for being an ass again," Dave said, willing himself to get the right words out. "I don't want to stand in your way. I just want you to be happy, and if you can't be happy with me, then I have to accept that." Boy, did he really say that? So much for fighting for her. It was true though. All he really wanted was her to be happy, even if it meant that he was going to be unhappy for the rest of his life. And maybe, just maybe, she would realize what she was missing without him.

"Just promise me one thing, Jennifer," he pleaded softly. "Please don't take them away from me."

"I promise," JJ whispered, taking a step towards him. "But you should already know that I could never do that." They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, not sure what to say or to do now. Dave wanted nothing more than to kiss her again, but he didn't dare do it, afraid of another rejection. He wasn't able to read her face right now, his whole profiling abilities seemed to have left him in this moment.

"I should go to sleep as well, I didn't exactly have a good day today," he broke the silence after a while.

"Stay here tonight. Please." JJ asked him quietly.

Dave nodded. He hadn't really planned on leaving again anyway, despite his biting hint from earlier. Having to take a cab to Little Creek and back to Quantico the next day didn't exactly appeal to him in his current condition.

xxx

Not much later he was lying on JJ's couch, not able to sleep yet with his mind filled with what had happened the past day. Was he being overly dramatic? He didn't think so before, but thinking about it now, he realized there was some truth to it. He needed to come up with a decent plan that would help him make her see that he was so much better than this jerk. His mind reeled all kinds of ideas to manipulate JJ's date, but he quickly put them away as childish. It surely wouldn't help him if JJ found out as it certainly wouldn't let him appear in a good light.

After hours of lying awake, he came up with a basic plan on how to proceed now. He would give her this date, but after the weekend, he was going to strike in full blast. There was no way she could say no to what he had in mind.

He didn't imagine that luck would be on his side for once before he actually had to take any action.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

The team was called in on a case for the rest of the week, so both JJ and Dave didn't really have much time to think about what had happened. Dave's hope that they wouldn't be back in town by Friday night and JJ would have to cancel her date wasn't fulfilled, but since his plans on winning her back were slowly beginning to become more specific, he didn't mind so much anymore. It still annoyed him that she would even consider going out with Anderson, and it stung deeply when she decided to spend her lunch break on Friday with him as well after they had arrived back that morning, but he tried not to show her.

Aside from work, he had also pretty much ignored Prentiss and Garcia. He knew that they meant well with JJ, and he was glad they were such great friends to her, but he was still pissed with them for talking her into this asinine date. Later he would have to remind himself to thank them properly.

After work was done for the day, he followed her home. He was happy to be able to spend a whole evening alone with his children again, although the last time he had been able to do that the previous Saturday, he had liked the circumstances a lot better. Giving JJ time for herself at a girl's night was something he would always agree on – as long as the girls wouldn't come up with another of these idiotic plans, but knowing her on a date with anybody but him didn't make his alone time with Hannah and Henry as enjoyable.

While JJ showered and got dressed, he fed Hannah her bottle and Henry his supper, before changing them into their pajamas. Sitting on the living room floor with his daughter in his arms and Henry crawling around them, he held his breath as JJ came out of the bathroom once she was finished.

"Wow!", was all he managed to get out at the sight of her being clad in a perfectly fitting, knee-long burgundy red dress, her hair falling down her shoulders.

"Thanks." JJ smiled, blushing slightly as a warm and fuzzy feeling ran through her body. "Would you help me with the necklace, please?"

"Sure." Dave carefully laid Hannah down on the couch and got up.

Feeling his gentle hands brushing her neck as he put on her necklace, JJ couldn't help but shiver at his touch, which of course didn't go unnoticed by Dave. He wanted to trace his hands down her arms just to touch her and see if this reaction wasn't just a fluke, but he held back. A confused JJ running scared wasn't something he wanted to see tonight. It was hard enough to know that it wasn't him she had dressed up for like that, and his deepest wish was for Anderson to screw up royally tonight.

"Do you want me to take the kids to my place? I mean, just in case you want to bring your date with you afterwards," Dave offered, earning himself a surprised look from JJ.

"No, it's fine if you want to stay here," she answered with a bit of hesitation in her voice. She knew she would definitely not extend the evening with Anderson into spending the night with him, not on the first date. That was not her style. Cringing when she thought that with Dave she didn't even go on a date but went straight to bed with him, she wondered if he had made that offer on purpose, just to get back on her, and was beginning to feel some anger rise inside her.

Before she could dwell on it, however, she heard Dave say: "All right. But call me in case you go home with him, okay? Just so I know that I won't have to stay up all night and wait for you." He turned her around and looked at her from head to toes, and added in a soft voice: "You look really beautiful tonight, Jennifer."

JJ felt the blush back in her face again at his complimenting words and the intense stare into her eyes he gave her, and her heart suddenly started to beat so much faster, as always when she was this close to him. _Damn that man was confusing_, she thought to herself, and was glad for the distraction when the doorbell rang.

Dave couldn't help but wince at the interruption. He tried hard to focus and stay calm, while inside he felt like crying. He knew JJ wasn't the type to hop into bed with someone on the first night out, but the fact that she'd done it with him made him imagine that it was not impossible she'd do it again, and he felt his stomach turn at that thought.

So he simply drew her into a short hug and told her to have fun, before he went back to focus on his children.

When she opened the door, Anderson was standing there with a bouquet of flowers, red roses that looked really beautiful, and complimented her much like Dave had done earlier. And while she really liked the flowers and Anderson's polite demeanor, she couldn't help but wonder why she didn't feel the same sensations that were flooding her before.

xxx

Once he was alone with the kids, Dave tried to give them his full attention, but his thoughts drifted off to their mother more than once, and he realized he was glancing at his watch every five minutes, hoping that the time would go by faster.

"You know, your Mama really is a special person. But you already know that, don't you, munchkin," he said to Henry, tickling his belly. Hearing his laughing squeal filled him with joy, but at the same time, his heart began to ache at the thought that Henry still wasn't officially his son. _What if he never will be? _He quickly brushed this painful thought away, willing himself to think positive.

"As soon as your Mama comes home, I'll show her what she'd be missing without me. There's no way I'll let anyone else become your Daddy, Henry, I promise you that." He scooped the boy into his lap and took Hannah into his arms as well, beginning to tell them the story of how he and JJ had first met. Hannah fell asleep pretty quickly, and when Henry's appreciative squeaks became less as well, he got up to lay down on the couch, bringing both kids to his chest and holding them close. If someone had told him a couple of years ago that it would fill him with happiness just to lay down and hold his children, he would have laughed in their face. But here he was, doing exactly that and he couldn't imagine anything making him happier. He knew that despite everything, he was a damn lucky man.

xxx

It was just after nine when JJ came back home. Entering the house, she was surprised to find it dark and quiet. Of course Dave would have put the children to bed, but she would have expected him to still be up and watch TV or something like that at this early hour.

When she went into the living room and switched on the lights, she felt her heart melt at the sight in front of her. Dave was still lying on the couch, snoring lightly, his arms securely wrapped around the children on his chest, keeping them in place. Tears filled her eyes, and she couldn't resist, but pull her cell phone out of her purse and snap a few pictures. There, in this moment, she finally had a feeling of being at home, realizing that everything she wanted and needed was right there in front of her. All that was left for her to do was go and grab it.

Shrugging out of her coat, she made a quick trip to her bedroom and changed into something comfortable before kneeling down next to the couch and waking Dave gently.

"Hey," she whispered softly as he opened his eyes.

"Hey. What time's it?"

"Just after nine," she answered quietly, not wanting to wake the children.

"You're home early," Dave said surprised, letting her take Henry out of his arm.

"Yeah, well...," JJ answered evasively, walking over to the nursery with her sleeping son. She wanted to bring the kids to bed before she discussed this with him. Dave followed her with Hannah, and they quickly tucked the children in, before going back to sit down on the couch.

"What happened that you're home so early?" Dave asked again, hoping that whatever she was going to tell him was something he'd be glad to hear.

Looking into his eyes, JJ whispered barely audible.

"He wasn't you."


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

"What?" Dave wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly. Maybe he had wanted her so much to say something along these lines that he was already imagining things.

"He wasn't you," JJ whispered again, sounding almost desperate.

Dave still looked at her in disbelief. He had spent the whole eventing plotting how to get rid of Anderson, how to win her back, and now she was telling him what he had been trying to show her all along? To say he was surprised would be the least.

Combined with the relief that he hadn't lost her, he also felt anger rise in him again. He had waited patiently for months, had given her all the time she needed to think, had let her push him away from her over and over again, and now all of a sudden she decided to have him? He knew he should be nothing but thankful but he couldn't help it.

"What do you mean, JJ? I'm suddenly good enough again?" he replied more harshly than he had intended to, the words out before he could even think about them.

Now it was her turn to stare at him in shock. And she suddenly realized what she had been doing to him all this time. She'd been playing with him, with his feelings. She had been so sure that he would always be there, waiting for her to come to a decision, that she never noticed what this must have been doing to him. It had never occurred to her that he might not wait forever.

"Oh my God." Her words were nothing more than a faint whisper. "Please tell me I'm not too late." her eyes filled with tears as she looked away, burying her face in her hands.

When he didn't move, she turned to him again, trying to find something in his face that would tell her that her realization had not come too late.

Dave just closed his eyes.

"Dave, please say something," she begged him.

Opening his eyes again, he asked: "What? What do you want to hear, JJ, that I haven't told you already? I'm not the one who has to explain himself here." He had spoken softly and calm, but JJ could not miss the hurt in his voice.

"I am so sorry, Dave. I never realized how much I was hurting you. Or maybe, subconsciously I wanted to hurt you, to get back at you for how much you had hurt me. I don't know. I'm truly sorry, David."

Her apology tore at his heart.

They had both had their fair share of being hurt by the other, that much was for sure, but he knew it had to stop now. He had never meant to cause her any more pain tonight, so his own reaction had surprised him quite a bit. There had obviously still been a lot of accumulated anger in him that he hadn't been able to keep in control. But right now, he just wanted it all to be over, he wanted to forget everything that had happened between them in the past year – with exception of their first night together when they'd made their daughter – and just start all over again. It was the only way they'd both win.

JJ, who interpreted his silence and hesitation as rejection, nodded in defeat and stood up.

"I'm going to bed," she said softly. "Maybe tomorrow we can talk about how to go on from here."

She turned to walk away, when she felt his hand catching her wrist and holding her back. Turning back to him in surprise, she had to cry even more when she saw the look in his eyes. But this time they were happy tears, and they were beginning to form in his eyes as well. The pain had vanished and the deep love she saw reflected in them almost brought her to her knees.

"Come here," he whispered, pulling her down into his lap.

Wrapping his strong arms around her, he let his own tears fall freely as he held her close for several minutes.

"I'm so sorry about everything, David," he finally heard her soft voice against his ear.

"Shh, it's okay, Jennifer. No more apologies. We're together now, that's all that matters to me."

Pressing a soft kiss into her hair, he closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. For the rest of his life he would remember that moment, when he felt truly at peace by just holding her. He couldn't even begin to describe the happiness that filled his heart. Now he had everything he ever wanted, and he was going to do his damnedest to keep it.

Feeling his warm breath against her hair and hearing his strong and steady heartbeat made JJ relax completely. Everything was okay now, everything was clear. All doubts about his intentions and her own feelings for him had vanished and had left only the essential: She loved this man and he loved her back.

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_A/N: This was supposed to be up yesterday, but I got distracted by watching the Soccer World Cup (Go, Germany! :-)). _

_Thank you very much everyone, who is still with me and reading this story! I truly appreciate everyone's feedback!_


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The next morning, a demanding ringing of a cell phone abruptly disturbed Dave's sleep at the ungodly hour of six am. Groaning loudly, he automatically reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the vibrating and beeping phone that had interrupted his dreams, not noticing that it was JJ's.

"Rossi," he mumbled sleepily after he'd flipped it open, and jerked up straight in bed when he was greeted with a piercing scream, wondering if his eardrum would ever recover.

"Who is it?" JJ muttered drowsily, hoping that the wouldn't be called in on a case this Saturday morning.

"I'm not sure," Dave answered truthfully, holding the phone away from his ear. "Though, it sounds a bit like Garcia."

JJ was suddenly wide awake, too, as she heard Dave's words.

"Oh damn, I forgot to call her!"

Seeing Dave's raised eyebrows, she continued to explain: "I promised to call her after I got home from my date to give her an update."

Hearing Garcia's excited voice through the phone, she added grinning: "Sounds like she's drawing her own conclusions about what happened last night."

"Please tell me these are happy and approving noises, and nothing else," Dave said, handing JJ the phone.

Leaning back against the headboard, he smiled contently as he watched and listened to JJ filling Garcia in on the latest developments, letting his own mind wander back to the previous night.

xxx

_He was not sure how long he had held her close, but after a while, something shifted in them and the began kissing, slowly and carefully at first to feel the other's reaction. _

_Within moments, however, they both became more and more passionate, their kisses hungrier and more demanding. It was as if they had to make up for all the time they'd wasted before. Before they knew it, they were lying flat on the couch, hands everywhere, touching and caressing, and simply needing to feel each other. No words were spoken, only their heavy breaths and moans were filling the air for quite some time, until Dave suddenly stopped them. _

_Stilling JJ's hands, he met her confused gaze. _

"_We can't," he whispered softly, stroking gently through her hair. _

"_Why not?" JJ asked, the disappointment obvious in her eyes. "I want you, Dave. I need to feel you close. I thought you wanted me, too." _

"_I do, sweetheart, more than you can imagine," he replied reassuringly, cradling her face in his hands and giving her a thorough kiss. "But for once I want to do everything right. I want to take you out on dates, treat you to dinner, things like that."_

"_Don't you think we're already past that stage? We have a child together, remember?" JJ chuckled lightly, the disappointment gone when she'd heard his words._

"_I know. But I haven't gotten a chance to do all of it yet," he smiled. "Besides, I don't have any condoms with me tonight. I didn't exactly foresee this. So unless you have one here-" _

_JJ sighed an let her head fall back. "We won't ever forget these anymore, will we?"_

"_Nope, I don't think so. I've learned my lesson. So before we're not officially working on our next child, I'll stick with the rubber."_

"_You're already thinking of another one? How many do you plan for us to have?" JJ wanted to know. _

"_As many as you want, Jennifer. If it'll just be Henry and Hannah, or if we'll be adding another dozen, it doesn't matter to me. I know that as of tonight, I'm the luckiest guy on earth. I couldn't be happier. And every child we'll have can consider themselves blessed for having such a wonderful mother," he replied warmly, his smile just as big as hers as he saw the happiness in her eyes. _

"_I haven't yet thought about having more children, but for my continued sanity, let's get at least one of the two we already have out of the diapers before we consider getting another one," JJ said dryly. _

"_Deal," he smirked, leaning down to kiss her again. "But that does not mean I can't hold you close tonight." _

_Not much later, they ended up in JJ's bedroom, snuggling against each other as they fell asleep, comfortably wrapped in each other's arms._

xxx_  
_

Dave snapped back into reality as JJ ended her talk with Garcia and reached over to place her phone back onto the nightstand.

Seeing the wide smile on her face, Dave said: "I take it she's happy about this."

JJ nodded. "I've never heard so many 'I told you so's' in such a short amount of time, though. She even offered to babysit Hannah and Henry over the weekend to give us some time to ourselves."

"What did you say?" Dave asked.

"Weren't you listening?"

He shook his head. "My thoughts drifted away after a moment."

JJ smiled knowingly. "Oh. Well, I told her that I want to spend my weekend with you and the kids somewhere quiet. Maybe we can drive out to Little Creek."

Agreeing wholeheartedly, Dave pulled her close again, pressing a soft kiss into her hair. "But first I want to get some more sleep. There's absolutely no need for us to get before Henry or Hannah wake up."

Within a few minutes they were both fast asleep again, curled together in a warm embrace.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

When JJ and Dave arrived at work after the weekend, they were both relaxed and rested like never before. Or at least they couldn't remember a time they had been relaxed like that.

The weekend together with the kids at Little Creek was balm for their souls. They had done this before ever since Hannah's arrival, in fact they had spent most of their free weekends together at Dave's home, but this time, their first weekend together as a couple, it felt different. JJ didn't have to endure and avoid Dave's nagging questions anymore as to when she finally would commit to him, and Dave didn't have to brace himself for rejection. Everything seemed lighter and easier, and they both could simply focus on being together and spending time with their children.

So when they both stepped out of the elevator at the BAU floor, smiling widely at each other, and then parted ways to go to their respective offices, they were followed by suspiciously raised eyebrows and questioning looks.

Prentiss, who had already been informed about the latest developments by Garcia – the quirky technical analyst couldn't restrain herself from calling her and interrupting her dreams right after she'd ended her call with JJ Saturday morning – quickly jumped up and ran after JJ, determined to get every detail she didn't yet know about the previous weekend out of her.

Morgan and Reid, both more or less oblivious to what had been going on, were more focused on Rossi. Was he really whistling as he made his way up to his office?

"Last week he got drunk because of JJ and now he's whistling?" Spencer whispered to Derek.

"They must have had one hell of a weekend," Derek answered. "And I am going to find out," he added, getting up as well.

"What are you doing? Where are you going?" Spencer squeaked, not sure if it was wise to disturb the senior profiler this early in the morning when he'd just gotten in.

"Don't you want to know about it?" Morgan asked him as he walked up the stairs, leaving a hesitating Spencer behind.

Entering Rossi's office with one sharp knock, Morgan didn't wait for an invitation, but let himself fall into one of Dave's chairs, waiting for the older man to say something.

"What can I do for you this morning, Derek?" Dave wanted to know after a moment, not even bothering to look up from the case file he had just begun to read, biting back the amused smile that was beginning to form on his face, as he knew exactly why his colleague was here.

"So, you and JJ?" Derek said. "Did you have a good weekend?"

"I can't complain," Dave answered shortly, his eyes still glued to the paper in front of him.

"And?" Morgan prompted.

"And what?"

"And what did you guys do?"

That caused Dave to look up and glare intensely at Morgan.

"I don't see why this is any of your business," he said after a minute.

Morgan smirked. "Well, as long as we don't have to carry your drunken ass out of here again-"

"You won't," Dave interrupted him sharply, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the memory of this episode. "Is that all? Because I actually have some work to do this morning and I'm sure you do, too." He turned his attention back to the file again, and waited for Morgan to leave.

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm happy for you and JJ, chief."

xxx

"So, how was your date?" Emily asked, walking into the office behind JJ.

"Emily! Would you let me sit down first? Besides, I'm pretty sure Garcia's already given you an update, hasn't she?" JJ rolled her eyes as she put her bag down on the floor and herself into the desk chair.

"Yeah, yeah, but I want the details! Every dirty little thing you and Rossi did this weekend!" Emily retorted excitedly.

"I hate to disappoint you, but there's nothing to tell."

"Yeah, right," Emily snorted.

"Really. We just spent some quiet time with the kids at his house in Little Creek," JJ answered innocently.

"Aw, come on, JJ, you go on a date with one guy and wake up in bed the next morning with the other. There has to be something to tell! Details, please!" Emily looked at JJ with an expecting smirk on her face, her eyes leaving no doubt that she was determined to stay as long as her friend at least spilled some of the events that had led to her and Rossi finally getting together.

Knowing that if she actually wanted to get some work done before noon she had to give her friend something to make her leave, JJ sighed and then leaned back into her chair.

"Fine. As I already told Garcia, you were both right. When I was sitting in that restaurant with Anderson, all I could think of was that he wasn't Dave. I wondered how the conversation with Dave would be like, how Dave would look at me, and what we would do afterwards. I guess I don't have to mention that I finished my dinner as quickly as possible and asked Anderson to bring me back home."

A smug grin appeared on Emily's lips. "See? I hate to say it but: I told you so. Or rather, Garcia and I told you so. It wasn't such a bad idea then."

JJ smiled. "No it wasn't. Although I feel quite a bit stupid and guilty that I needed to go out with another man to realize what I have in Dave. I guess deep down I've known all the time that I love Dave."

"Of course you did! We've all known. It was hard to miss with the way you looked at him and talked about him," Emily said.

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried, JJ, remember? Garcia and I spent a whole evening trying to convince you, but we fell on deaf ears."

JJ could only shake her head at her own behavior.

Thinking back to Friday evening, she muttered, more to herself: "I still almost can't believe that Dave waited so patiently for me to come to my senses."

"That should tell you how much he loves you, and that you really have something to be grateful for," Emily commented nevertheless. "And me telling you this after the stunts he pulled last years is saying something." And after a short break she added: "Although I can assure you, he did not take it as easy and patient as it looked, when I think about last Monday."

JJ furrowed her brows quizzically. "What happened last Monday?"

"You don't know?"

JJ shook her head.

"I wasn't there to see it, but from what I heard, or rather, from what Morgan told me, it took him, Reid _and_ Hotch to get Rossi's drunken ass out of his office and into Hotch's car."

"What?" JJ stared at her in disbelief.

"Yeah. He was obviously so disturbed by hearing about your date with Anderson that he emptied the whole bottle of Scotch he keeps in his office," Emily explained, grinning amusedly. "God, I can't believe you didn't know that."

"I'm beginning to realize," JJ muttered dryly. So this was why Hotch had brought him home that night. Dave hadn't offered an explanation, only shortly mentioning that she would have to give him a ride to Quantico the next morning, as they had both been too angry with each other to dig deeper.

At any rate, she was going to have a serious conversation with Dave about drinking at the office, and his drinking habits in general.

Voicing that thought, Emily smirked: "Don't worry. Hotch already read him the riot act for that. Plus, as far as I know, he had taken him to his mother, drunken as he was."

They chatted for a few more minutes before they both had to go back to their work, and JJ couldn't stop smiling all day long as the memories of the past weekend followed her through the day.

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_**A/N: I'm deeply sorry that you had to wait so long again for this update. I've been thinking about how I'm going to continue this, and I've come to the conclusion that it would be best to end this story within the next few chapters. But the good news is: There will be a sequel of some sorts! I still have to think about how I'm going to do it, but I have a lot of ideas to continue with this storyline that I feel don't fit into this anymore. So unless anyone has anything he (or rather she ;)) wants to see written in this, I'm going to wrap this up within the next few chapters (my aim is 50 Chapters, as it would be a nice number, but I can't promise anything).**_

_**Thanks everyone who's been reading and reviewing so far! I truly appreciate your feedback! **_


	46. Chapter 46

_**A/N: Thank you very much everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I actually don't remember if I had replied back to everyone, since it's been a while that I've updated. I'm sorry for the long wait, but I was having a major writer's block with this story especially. I partly blame the hot weather, though, I really know why I like winter better than summer... **_

_**Anyway, here's Chapter 46, and with a little bit of ass kicking I might also finish 47 tonight :).**_

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Chapter 46

xxx

Hotch was quite surprised when he returned from the breakroom with a cup of freshly brewed coffee to find Morgan coming out of Dave's office, smirking and winking at Reid, who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What did he say?" Spencer asked immediately, cursing himself for not following Morgan into Rossi's office. He wanted to know what was going on, too!

Raising a questioning eyebrow, Hotch stopped right in front of his door and became just as curious as Reid looked, when he heard Morgan's answer.

"Not much. But what he didn't say was telling enough." His grin grew even bigger as he added: "He and JJ obviously spend a very busy weekend together, if you know what I mean."

Hotch smiled to himself and proceeded into his office, closing the door behind him. So they finally managed to pull their heads out of their asses and got together! He couldn't deny the relief he felt for his friends, although it was mixed with a bit of concern. Knowing David's habits left him thinking, hoping that his protectiveness would not have a negative effect on them working together, now that he was officially allowed to be protective. Remembering the last year and the conditions Dave and JJ had worked with, however, his demur lessened a little. Nevertheless, he made a mental note to remind both of them to maintain the professional behavior they had exhibited before. And he would definitely leave it for Dave to deal with Erin Strauss when she heard of two agents on the same team being in a relationship.

Strauss had already been quite a pain in the ass when the news of baby Hannah had reached her, but for some strange reason the fact that both JJ and Dave had confirmed that they were not involved anymore, but simply taking care of their daughter together had her back down for the time being. Hotch was pretty sure that Strauss would try to pull one of them from the team now, but knowing Rossi, her tries would most likely be in vain.

xxx

The day passed fairly quickly for the team. They didn't have a new case that demanded for them to leave town, and especially Dave and JJ were really glad about that, wanting to spend some more time together as a family before their work temporarily separated them from their children again. They were both done with their consults and paperwork for the day shortly after five, and decided to pick up their children from Dave's mother together, taking this as an opportunity to tell her the good news.

Walking up the short way to Gracia Rossi's front door about half an hour later, Dave realized that he couldn't be happier. He knew how much both of the children meant to his mother, how much JJ had come to mean to her, and how much she wanted both of them to be happy together, and part of his own happiness was to see his mother contended. He was finally getting things right, and he just hoped that he would never have to see any disappointment in his mother's eyes again.

He'd rather view the happiness that mirrored on her face when she opened the door for the rest of his life. He could see she was a bit surprised at first to find both of them at her doorstep to get their children, as it was usually only either him or JJ who picked them up, whoever was out of the office first, but they didn't even have to tell her what was going on. The big smiles on their faces couldn't hide the change in their relationship.

Once inside, she gave both of them big hugs and kisses, and decided for them to stay for dinner so that they can inform her of all the details.

They had a great time over dinner, as Dave and JJ recounted the events from the past weekend, especially having a great laugh when JJ told about Garcia's wake up call from Saturday morning. A few times, however, JJ felt her guilty conscience about having kept Dave waiting for so long coming back. While she had made up with him, and he had assured her that it was all forgiven now, JJ knew she also owed his mother an apology. The older woman had constantly been there to take care of the children and support them, never pushing JJ to make a decision, but JJ had always felt that Mrs. Rossi was more than just a bit sad over everything.

She took the opportunity to talk to her after dinner, when she helped Gracia bring the dishes back into the kitchen, having left Dave to take the children into the den.

"I'm so sorry about everything," JJ began once they were alone.

"What are you talking about, Jennifer?" Gracia asked surprised.

"I never realized how much I hurt David with my behavior. That was never my intention and I'm truly sorry about it," JJ explained softly.

"Have a seat, Jennifer," Dave's mother said, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs for JJ. They sat down, and Gracia took JJ's hand.

"I don't thinke that any of it was your fault. You can't help how you're feeling, Jennifer. You were just protecting yourself, which is understandable after all you've been through with my son," she tried to soothe JJ.

"Maybe. But after everything he did to make it up to me, he didn't deserve such a treatment. I'm not sure if I wasn't actually more afraid of my own feelings for him than of getting hurt again. I know it was hard for you having to watch your son suffer like that," the younger woman went on.

"My son is a grown man-" Gracia started, but JJ interrupted her.

"Yes, but doesn't a mother always worry about her child? We'll always be protective of our children, no matter how old they are." JJ smiled gently at her and continued. "I never intended to give any of you so much grief, and I am deeply sorry about that."

Gracia smiled back at her. If she hadn't already known before that JJ was the right woman for her Davey, now she would have been absolutely sure that there couldn't be anyone better for him.

"I know that, Jennifer. I knew from the moment we talked in your office how much you love my son, and I knew it was only a matter of time until the both of you realized that you belong together. I couldn't be happier now, and for me that's all that matters. And honestly, with my son's past in mind, I don't think I would have reacted differently."

"Thank you, Gracia." JJ felt relieved that she wasn't resentful.

"No, I have to thank you, Jennifer. You're making my son happy, and you've given me the two most wonderful grandchildren. I had already given up on both of these things." She reached over to stroke JJ's cheek. "And when are you finally remembering to call me Mama?"


	47. Chapter 47

_**A/N: Thanks again for all of the reviews! You guys seriously rock!**_

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Chapter 47

The next weekend found JJ, Dave, and the children at Little Creek again. The team had just come back from a tough case in Iowa, quickly resolved after three days, but nevertheless taking its toll on all of them, and they didn't waste much time, but headed right out to Dave's place Friday night. Having barely slept over the last few days, they went to bed pretty much right after they arrived, hoping that the children would show some mercy and let them sleep in the next morning.

They were lucky.

It was eight am on Saturday morning when the first whimper came from the nursery. Dave quickly got up and kissed JJ gently on the temple as she stirred to stand up as well.

"I'll take care of it, sweetheart. Try to get some more rest," he whispered gently.

Hearing her lover's soft voice, JJ smiled and snuggled back into the pillows, taking the chance to doze off for another while.

Dave went out and and across the floor into the opposite room, which had been one of his guest rooms before he had it remodeled into a nursery. They were still having both kids sleeping in the same room, but Dave had already made secret plans to turn the other upstairs guestroom into a bed and playroom for Henry when he was a little older, and keeping the nursery for Hannah.

Smiling widely, he found his daughter wide awake, looking curiously at him with her big brown eyes, and Henry just about to return from his dreams. The little boy rubbed his eyes, but didn't make much noise yet, so Dave scooped up Hannah first.

"Hey, princess," he cooed with a soft voice. "Did you sleep well?"

Cradling her against his chest, he immediately smelled the reason why she woke up.

"Uh, someone's definitely in the need of some changing," he commented, wrinkling his nose.

Stripping her out of her sleeping clothes, he quickly took care of this business, tickling her with his beard as he playfully kissed her little belly, which was something Hannah had come to love, squealing and gurgling happily every time he did it.

Once he had put on a fresh diaper and clothes, he took her in his arms again and turned back to Henry to find him awake and standing in his crib now.

Grinning, Dave thought that it hadn't been that long ago since the boy had been able to do this, let alone started to walk. While he had been quite the explorer, always crawling through the house to discover something new and interesting to play with, he had otherwise been content with people carrying him around, if he had been tired of crawling. He had been fifteen months old when he finally made his first few steps, about a month after Hannah had been born. Dave was really happy that he had been there to see it, as he had just come home from work that day. Both him and JJ couldn't have been prouder, and he had quickly taken out his cell phone to capture this moment.

Now, almost two months later, their son seemed unstoppable. If they let him out of sight for just one second, he was up and running, and JJ and Dave could only make sure to keep the doors closed or Henry would escape in no time. At least he wasn't big enough to turn the door knobs yet. And he also still hadn't found a way to climb out of his bed by himself, but with the way he was bouncing up and down, Dave was certain that Henry would come up with something soon.

Putting Hannah back into her own crib for a moment, he reached down for Henry, who was calling "Out! Out! Dada!" and squealed with glee, when Dave lifted him up.

"Hey big boy! Did you have a good night?"

Henry struggled to be put down on the floor, having already noticed the open door, but Dave kept him up and held him in place.

"Dada! Pway!" He demanded.

"Just a moment, munchkin. Let's get you out of your pajamas first, shall we?"

Changing the boy turned out to be a bigger effort than it had been with Hannah. Henry had so much fresh energy after a good night's sleep that he didn't appreciate it at all that he had to keep still, even if it was just for a few minutes. Dave felt pretty relieved when he finally managed to put a fresh diaper and clothes on Henry.

Taking both of the kids downstairs, he laid Hannah down in her playpen and let Henry run around as he went into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Twenty minutes later, he carried a big tray filled with pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit salad, coffee, and orange juice upstairs to JJ, who was just about to get up herself when he came in, her eyes lighting up when she saw what he was bringing.

"Breakfast in bed? I knew there was some reason why I love you," she joked.

"I can give you a lot more reasons for that this weekend," Dave smirked suggestively, putting the tray down and bent over to engage her in a passionate kiss.

"Hmm, I can't wait," JJ murmured against his lips.

"I'll get the kids. Be right back," Dave said, still grinning as they broke apart.

A minute later he was back with Hannah on his arm, her bottle in one hand and Henry on the other. JJ helped her son onto the bed and cradled him in her lap as he happily called out for his Mama. Cuddling him gently, she had a few problems to keep him in her arms.

"You're a little ball of energy this morning, aren't you, Henry," she laughed.

"Oh yeah," Dave grinned. "It was quite an effort to get him dressed today." He sat down against the headboard of the bed next to JJ and began to feed Hannah her bottle.

"What do you say we go for a walk later so that he can run off his energy?" He suggested.

They made plans for the rest of the day and enjoyed their breakfast together, until JJ suddenly said in a more serious tone: "Dave, I want to talk to you about something."


	48. Chapter 48

_**A/N: Finally an update! I apologize sincerely for not having been able to give you a new chapter sooner, but the last few weeks have been, well, let's say, challenging. Every time I was in the mood for writing, I didn't have the time, and every time I actually had a few hours, I couldn't seem to focus on any of my stories. **_

_**The good news is: I have now finished this story, and will post the last two chapters as soon as I have typed them up and worked over them. **_

_**I hope you guys are still with me for these last three chapters and enjoy them as much as you've enjoyed the whole story. Thank you for reading!**_

_**Enough with the rambling, here's chapter 48!**_

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Chapter 48

Switching off the lights in the bathroom, Dave quickly made his way over to the bed and slipped under the covers where JJ was already lying. Sneaking an arm around her waist, he snuggled close to her and feathered soft kisses against her temple and cheek.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear, smiling happily at her as she turned to face him.

Today could very easily be counted as one of the happiest days in his life.

When JJ had announced during their breakfast session in bed that there was something she wanted to talk about, his heart had sank for a short moment, making him fear that she might have changed her mind about them being together, and that she wanted to break up with him.

Seeing her gentle smile and knowing that there actually hadn't been any signs of her being unhappy in the past week – quite the opposite in fact – he had quickly calmed down again and had been more than pleasantly surprised by her suggestions to move in together.

His very obvious amazement had almost made her doubt her question.

"You don't want-" she'd started nervously, only to have been interrupted by him immediately.

"No, JJ. I want that, I want that very much! You just surprised me, that's all. I didn't think it would be you to suggest it, and I didn't count on you being ready for the next step so fast. But that does not mean I don't want it. I'm elated, in fact."

He had kissed her deeply, sealing his words and making sure she'd have nothing to doubt.

They had spent another hour in bed, cuddling with their children and discussing where they wanted to make their home for their family.

Much to his delight, it hadn't taken Dave long to convince JJ to make his cabin their joint residence. In fact, when he had told her about is plans for remodeling the nursery and the other guestroom for the kids, JJ felt the tears form in her eyes – some of the happiest tears she'd ever shed – and wondered not for the first time if she had entered some alternate dimension. Dave's willingness to make room for them, to turn his life inside out, which of course he had already been doing before, still seemed to overwhelm her every once in a while.

After they had finally gotten up, they'd spend most of the day wandering around his huge property, having a picnic for lunch, which took well into the afternoon. It had reassured them both that the decision to move out here was the absolute best one for them and their family.

When suddenly dark clouds had darkened the blue sky in the late afternoon, they hadn't even been able to grab all their things fast enough before a huge downpour soaked them within minutes. As fast as they could, they'd run back to the house, not being able to stop laughing, especially since Henry had taken great pleasure in jumping into every puddle he could reach, relishing his cheery squeals as the water splashed underneath his feet.

Finally deciding that it was enough, they entered the house, quickly changing themselves and the kids into dry clothes before they ran the risk of catching a cold.

They had spent the rest of the afternoon swinging on the porch, watching the rain, and doing their best to keep Henry from running down into the rain again. Hannah had preferred to slumber on her father's arms, only waking when she'd had a full diaper or demanded a feed. It was the only time that JJ got a chance to hold her daughter for a few moments, because otherwise Dave refused to let her out of his arms, insisting that his little girl felt most comfortable with her Daddy. "Look at her, Jennifer," he'd said. "She doesn't even stir. You don't want to disrupt that, do you?"

JJ had only smiled to herself and let him be.

Shortly after dinner, Henry, having been active all day long, showed unmistakable signs of exhaustion, and it didn't take very long for JJ and Dave to settle him down. Within a few minutes he had been out, just like Hannah, who had already nearly fallen asleep over her evening bottle.

A few glasses of wine and a movie later, JJ and Dave decided to call it a day as well, and were now wrapped around each other, sharing lazy kisses.

"I don't want this to end," JJ muttered between kisses, holding on to Dave as if she were afraid he'd disappear the moment she let go of him.

"It won't, I promise," Dave whispered back. "I won't let that happen."

Soon they were engaged in a more physical way of professing their love for each other, forgetting the world around them for a while. They fell asleep knowing that they had both found in the other everything that had been missing from their lives before.

xxx

Sunday morning came bright and quite early for the small family. Dave and JJ had decided to combine their separate households as soon as possible, and that started with informing their family and friends about their plans, Dave's mother being the first one to hear the news.

Dave knew that his mother still never missed her Sunday Mass, and they wanted to surprise her with joining her and afterwards inviting her to brunch.

Gracia Rossi actually had to look twice to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her when she saw her son, the woman she hoped would very soon officially be her daughter-in-law, and her gorgeous grandchildren approach the church doors, where she was currently standing and chatting with Father Davison, Dave's old friend and her favorite priest of all time, which, for that matter, was saying something as she still thought highly of the priest from Dave's childhood – may God rest his soul – who Dave had despised for the meanness he had been able to exhibit at times.

"Davey! Jennifer! That's a surprise! What are you doing here?"

"We're here to attend mass. Is that so unusual?" Dave retorted.

"When it comes to you, Davey, it actually is," Jimmy smirked, and then engaged in a short embrace with Dave, while Gracia greeted JJ and the children.

"Davey, has something happened?" Gracia asked suspiciously, not convinced that her son's appearance had simply to do with his desire for attending a church service.

"No. Not yet anyway," he answered cryptically.

"Davey-" his mother said in a warning tone, hoping that whatever it was she was going to hear wouldn't make her wish to be on another planet again.

"It's nothing bad, Mama," JJ quickly interrupted, shooting Dave a dark glare for making his mother so nervous. "We thought we're going to invite you for a brunch later and talk about our plans," she explained.

"You're welcome, too, Jimmy," Dave added.

Father Davison grinned: "I hope so, Davey. I've been waiting for weeks for you to introduce me to your children. I almost couldn't believe your mother was talking about the same Davey I've known all my life when she'd told me you had finally made her a grandmother."

Dave gave him a contrite glance and answered apologetically: "I'm sorry, Jimmy, I meant to introduce you all a lot earlier."

He had in fact thought of Jimmy a lot in the last months, also thanks to his mother, who had informed him on every occasion how eager his old friend was to meet JJ and the kids. But every time he had considered a date, something else had cropped up.

JJ was very happy as well to meet Jimmy Davison. She had mostly worked from the office at Quantico during the exorcism case that he had helped with, and she hadn't gotten a chance to get to know Dave's longtime friend. She could clearly see that Davey and Jimmy must have been quite a challenging pair for their parents during their childhood, mischief still twinkling in their eyes.

Dave made the introductions and JJ felt herself being pulled into a warm hug by Jimmy.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Father Davison," she said to him.

"The pleasure is all mine. Please just call me Jimmy. I'm so happy that Davey's finally come to his senses and realized that his mother and I have been right all along."

He happily occupied himself with the children for a few minutes before it was time for Mass to start.

Gracia smiled throughout the whole service, relishing the fact of having her Davey sitting next to her in church again, plus Jennifer and her grandchildren as an addition, and she hoped that this was not a one-time event in the foreseeable future.

As soon as they were all seated in Gracia's favorite Italian restaurant later, she demanded to hear what JJ and Dave had to tell, she didn't even give them the time to order their drinks first.

"We have decided to move in together," Dave announced, while JJ confirmed the news with a happy nod.

Gracia looked from Dave to JJ and back, not sure if she'd heard them correctly, but then broke into a huge smile.

"You're serious about that?" She exclaimed. "Oh, I can't even begin to tell you how happy you're making an old woman with that."

And with an mischievous look at Jimmy she asked: "Does that mean we'll be getting to celebrate a wedding soon, too?"

"Easy, Mama," Dave laughed. "Let's take one step at a time." Secretly, he already had a few ideas of how he was going to propose to JJ, but after everything that had happened, he was still careful not to push her too far and too fast so soon.

The suggestion of moving in together coming from her had alleviated his fears to a large extend and he knew he'd find the perfect moment to ask her to marry him in the near future.

Brunch was a loud and boisterous affair after that, with Jimmy sharing anecdotes from his and Dave's childhood and youth, all in between discussing with Dave's mother the details of their upcoming move.

Both Jimmy and Gracia readily offered to help, and JJ and Dave knew that between them and the team, who they were going to tell about it first thing Monday morning, they should be able to get it over with without any major problems.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Just as JJ and Dave had expected, Hotch, Garcia, Prentiss, Reid, and Morgan were not only happy and even relieved about their decision, but also immediately ready to help them.

They scheduled the move for the weekend after the next, as this would be the end of the team's two-week standdown, and JJ and Dave wanted to take the upcoming weekend to visit JJ's parents on her mother's birthday and inform them as well.

Quickly checking and confirming with Jimmy and Dave's mother, they were glad that everything seemed to work out without a problem.

Now all that was left to do was to convince JJ's parents that moving in together was exactly what they wanted and that they were doing the absolute right thing.

While Robert and Mary-Ann had made their peace with David and had slowly warmed up to him, both JJ and Dave felt that there was still a bit of reservation against Dave left over, even though the Jareaus did their best not to let it be too obvious when they talked to them on the phone.

JJ knew that especially Dave's age was still an issue mostly for her father. A man almost the same age as himself was not what he had previously considered appropriate for his little girl. Especially not when said man had been married three times and with the failure of each marriage in his eyes proofed to be incapable of making a lifelong commitment.

JJ's eyes had almost popped out when her father had informed her during their last conversation on the phone, during which she'd told him and her mother she and Dave were finally back together, that he had actually had Dave's background investigated, and that he couldn't believe they had kept Dave's previous failed marriages from him and his wife. What seemed to mystify Robert Jareau even more was the fact that his daughter still wanted to be with that scoundrel, and was willing to overlook his past.

JJ had almost been ready to throw the phone against the nearest wall, but let herself be calmed down by Dave's soothing and reassuring hand on her forearm. Dave had then explained his sort-of father-in-law as calmly as he could that he had no intentions of adding another failed relationship to his track record and that he was going to do everything within his power to make Jennifer happy on every day for the rest of their lives.

For these words, JJ had rewarded him with a long and very satisfying love-making session after they'd gone to bed that night.

Her father had eventually backed down, but they both knew that it would still take a while for him to fully accept Dave as part of the family.

xxx

Dave, JJ and the kids took an early flight to Pennsylvania on Saturday morning, and arrived at Jennifer's childhood home shortly after nine a.m.

Knowing her mother was already up, bustling in the house to prepare everything for her birthday dinner, JJ wanted to come as early as possible to help her.

"Relax, Dave. They won't kill you. I'm sure Mom will be way too preoccupied with the preparations for tonight to even think about harming you in any way," JJ told Dave, not able to hide an amused grin, as they walked towards the house.

"Your mother probably not, but I'm not so sure about your Dad," Dave muttered nervously. He hadn't felt anything like that in a very long time, probably since he'd been a teenager meeting his first girlfriend's parents for the first time, and today wasn't even his first meeting with JJ's parents. He was more than just a bit annoyed with himself for not being able to keep his cool. Obviously standing up against the love of his life's father was a lot easier over the phone than in person. But making a mistake was not an option, and he knew it.

"Dave, you can handle the most horrible and brutal serial killers, but you're afraid of my father? Are you serious?" JJ asked, chuckling.

"I can't believe you're making fun of me," Dave hissed as they entered the house.

JJ only gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder and then called for her parents.

"Mom, Dad? We're here!"

Mary-Ann Jareau came running out of the kitchen, wearing an apron and stirring what looked like cake mixture in a large bowl.

"Jennifer!" She exclaimed happily. "You're already here! Oh, wait a second." She hustled back into the kitchen and reappeared moments later, this time without the bowl.

"Now I have my hands free to greet you," she said, drawing her daughter into a tight hug.

"Happy Birthday, Mommy," JJ said softly, pressing a kiss onto her cheek.

And then, much to Dave's surprise, Mary-Ann turned and embraced him as well.

"David! I'm so happy you could come too!"

She sounded genuinely delighted, and Dave felt himself relax quite a bit.

"Happy Birthday, Mrs. Jareau."

"Mary-Ann, please," JJ's mother replied promptly. "Oh, I'm so happy you're all here today!"

She then focused on her grandchildren, immediately taking Hannah out of her daughter's arm, and leading Henry into the kitchen.

"Why don't you go take your things up into the guest room?" she called back to JJ and Dave before she disappeared through the door with the children.

"See, it wasn't that bad," JJ teased Dave gently, as she shoved him up to their room for the night.

"Not yet. But your mother is only half of the equation," Dave replied, putting their bags down on the bed.

"I have your back, I promise," she told him, giving him an reassuring kiss. "Come on, let's go back down. The sooner you get your meeting with my father over with, the sooner you can relax and enjoy the weekend."

"I'm not sure if there will be a lot to relax this weekend," Dave murmured to himself as he followed her out of the room and back down again.

"Mom, where's Daddy?" JJ asked as they entered the kitchen.

"He's outside behind the house and hopefully repairing those garden chairs I told him to fix."

"Are you okay with Hannah and Henry for a while?"

"Of course, sweetheart! We'll be fine. Henry's going to help me with my cake, aren't you, Henry?" The boy bounced up and down with excitement.

"Okay, but don't forget to keep your doors closed, or he'll be gone faster than you can say his name," JJ reminded her mother, before she dragged Dave out behind her.

Making their way through the house and out the patio door, JJ and Dave found her father behind the garage, chopping wood.

"Hi Daddy, we're here!" JJ greeted him and immediately furrowed her brows. "What are you doing, Dad?"

"What does it look like, Jenny? I'm chopping wood for our fire place," he answered grumpily, demonstratively applying the ax to split another piece of wood.

"Daddy, it's spring! I don't think you're going to need that much wood anytime soon," JJ tried to reason with him, all the while knowing exactly why he was doing this. Glancing around carefully, she was relieved that his shotgun was nowhere to be seen – yet.

"You never know, Jenny. What if the temperatures fall suddenly?"

JJ could only shake her head and tried to change the subject.

"Didn't Mom tell you to repair the chairs?"

"Don't worry, I'll get to that later."

Dave watched the exchange between father and daughter with growing nervousness, being aware of what Robert Jareau was trying to tell him with his behavior. _Hurt my girl and you'll make contact with my ax. _

And he still couldn't believe why he allowed himself to be distracted by JJ's father so much. _Get it together, Rossi, he mentally scolded himself._

"Daddy, will you please stop that for a moment and come over so that we can say hello properly?"

JJ's voice pulled Dave out of his thoughts again.

Reluctantly, Robert Jareau walked over to them, keeping the ax in his hand, and gave his daughter a small hug with his free arm.

"It's good to see you, darling," he whispered, pressing a kiss into her hair, before turning to Dave.

Raising the ax dangerously to switch if from his right hand into the left to be able to offer Dave a proper handshake, he didn't bother to hide a smirk when he saw Dave draw back instinctively.

"Daddy!" JJ exclaimed appalled. "It's enough now!" She should have known that her father was trying one of his many and very creative methods of scaring away her boyfriends again, although this time she was sure he wouldn't be successful with it.

Seeing him wink at her, she breathed out a relieved sigh. He wasn't being serious, merely testing Dave's reaction, and the situation actually began to amuse her very much.

Robert stretched out his hand in Dave's direction, who did his best to pull himself together and grip the offered hand firmly.

"It's nice to meet you again, Mr. Jareau," Dave said politely.

"Likewise," came the short answer from JJ's father.

The two men eyed each other for a few moments, until Robert Jareau broke the silence.

"It's good that you're here so early. You can help me with fixing the chairs." His determined tone left no room for debate, and he broke into a huge grin when he saw Dave gulp uncomfortably.

Snorting in amusement, JJ realized what her father was trying to do, and patted her lover's shoulder sympathetically.

"That's a good idea, Dad. Just promise me you'll put that ax away."

Dave shot her a dark look, not happy with the fact that she was willing to leave him unarmed with a man who had the instrument and the opportunity to slaughter him.

Knowing that some time alone would help them work out their issues, JJ simply shrugged and went back inside to help her mother in the kitchen.

xxx

Overall, the day went by without any major incidents, apart from the fact that Henry left big hand-prints in his grandmother's cream cake.

Dave and Robert worked in silence for quite some time until Dave pinched his finger in one of the chairs and let out a loud curse.

Robert couldn't help it and broke into laughter as Dave began to suck on his injured finger to relieve the pain.

"Very funny," Dave snorted sarcastically, glancing furiously at him.

Another moment later, he joined in the laughter and the spell was broken.

"You were quite impressed with my little show from earlier. Never expected this. What does that tell me about you?" Robert remarked.

"Only that you have my fullest respect, sir," Dave replied.

"You know, normally I would now ask you something along the lines of 'What are your intentions with my daughter', but if I remember correctly, we already had that talk a few months ago."

"Yes, sir. But I will gladly assure you again that I only have Jennifer's best interests in mind. I love your daughter and our children more than I have loved anyone ever before. They are my whole life, and I will fight like hell if anyone tries to tear us apart," Dave vowed, holding Robert's intense glare as the last bit of his nervousness vanished and he found back to his normal self-confident self again.

"I would have expected nothing less," Robert answered truthfully. The rather large gap between this man's and his daughter's age, plus the fact that Rossi had been married three times before he even met his girl, was hard to ignore, but he could see that Rossi was honest. The last months had proven that. Above all, it was most important for him that his daughter was happy. And there was no doubt that she was happy with him, and hell would freeze over first before he did anything to destroy his daughter's happiness.

Robert was originally going to express one last warning, but then stopped himself as he realized that it wasn't necessary anymore. He had already made his intentions of what he'd do with Rossi should he hurt his Jenny, crystal clear during their first meeting after Hannah's birth, and another pep talk would have been over the top. He'd had his fun, and now they were able to move on.

"I really have to remember that stunt for Hannah's future boyfriends," Dave acknowledged grinning. "Not that she will actually be going on a date before her thirtieth birthday, or rather her fortieth."

"I can tell you another few tricks if you're interested. They all worked with Jenny's dates."

And then they indulged in various of Roberts stories of how he scared away all of JJ's boyfriends or potential suitors, while they continued to get the chairs ready for the big party in the evening.

When JJ found them in perfect harmony a few hours later, laughing about how her highschool prom date had involuntarily landed in the Jareau's trash can while trying to escape from her father, it was her turn to get nervous at the scene unfolding in front of her. She suddenly wasn't so sure anymore if it had been a good idea to leave Dave and her daddy alone for so long.

xxx

At dinner, Dave met another few members of Jennifer's extended family. Some of them were just as skeptical of Dave as her parents had been, but it didn't take too long for Dave to win them over. A few well-placed stories of the early days of the BAU, plus especially Hannah helped a lot with that, and seeing how gentle and loving Dave was with JJ and the children, they threw off their reservations over the course of the evening.

All in all, Mary-Ann's birthday dinner was quite a pleasurable experience for everyone, and JJ was extremely happy that he parents had come to fully accept Dave.

It would make their announcement of moving in together after only such a short time of officially being a couple a lot easier.

She and David had decided to break the news on Sunday, as Saturday was too busy with the preparations, and the birthday dinner.

When JJ told them their plans over breakfast, her parents looked at each other for a moment, but overall didn't seem to be too surprised.

Seeing Dave's confusedly raised eyebrows, Mary-Ann explained: "As you have already noticed, it usually takes our Jennifer a while to come to a decision, in your case with wanting to be with you, but after she's done that, as soon as she's decided for something, things can't go fast enough for her. It was the same with her decision for what she wanted to do with her life after college. It took her quite some time to figure that out, nothing seemed to be fitting for her, but then, out of the blue, she decided to apply for the FBI, and before we even had a chance to think about, let alone approve her decision, she had already been gone and at the FBI academy."

Both JJ and Dave couldn't hide a smile and exchanged a knowing look which didn't go unnoticed by Robert and Mary-Ann.

Hearing that it was actually David who had played a vital part in JJ's reasoning for joining the Bureau, they took him into their hearts even more. Sure, their daughter's job was dangerous at times, but they had always been very proud of her and the of the career she'd made so far, and it obviously hadn't hurt to have David Rossi as a role model.

By the end of the day, JJ's mother was seriously wondering how any of Dave's ex-wives could even have thought of letting a man like him go. Well, their loss was good for her daughter.

Just as willingly as Jimmy, Dave's mother, and the team, Robert and Mary-Ann offered their help with moving on the next weekend. JJ protested a bit at first, saying it wasn't necessary that they come all the way to D.C., but they wouldn't hear of it.

That meant that every possible resource of support seemed to be available, and both JJ and Dave were actually looking forward to the upcoming weekend.


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Garcia was the first one to arrive at JJ's apartment on Saturday morning – at precisely 6.59 she rang the doorbell and didn't even hesitate to loudly bang on the door, when she didn't get a reaction within a few seconds.

"Gumdrop, where do I start?" was her greeting as JJ finally opened the door.

She brushed inside and looked around to make out a good place to get going.

"Good morning to you, too, Penelope," JJ said with amusement. "Why don't you get over to the kitchen and get some coffee first?"

"You started without me?" Garcia accused, pointing at a few boxes JJ and Dave had already packed.

"I just sorted out a few things that I won't need anymore over the last week. You can't imagine how much stuff has gathered here over the years," JJ sighed. It was definitely going to be a very long day.

"Good morning, Garcia," Dave called over to where she and JJ were standing as he walked into the kitchen with Hannah in his arm and Henry on his hand. The boy immediately let go of him when he saw his godmother, and ran over to her to wrap his little arms around her leg.

"Good morning," Garcia shouted back and knelt down to Henry. "How's my favorite little munchkin doing today?"

She became so engrossed with the child that she didn't even notice Dave's mother arriving as well.

The older woman went straight to the other baby, ignoring her son's dark glare as she took Hannah from his arm and the bottle he'd just prepared out of his hand.

"Stop frowning, Dave," JJ told him, nudging his shoulder playfully as she came to stand next to him.

"That's my job. She gets her morning bottle from me," he pouted quietly for only JJ's ears to hear it.

JJ couldn't help the snort escaping her mouth.

"You'll get over it," she muttered dryly. "Why don't you get going to pick my parents up from the airport? Their plane will land in 40 minutes."

She practically shoved Dave out of the kitchen, before he could start an argument with his mother, who JJ was certain would win this, which would only leave Dave in a foul mood.

"I thought they wanted to take a cab here?" He asked.

"They did, but since you'll be arriving early enough to catch them, I say they won't need to," JJ smirked.

Taking a deep breath, Dave pulled JJ into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

"Wow, what was that for?" she breathed out in surprise once they broke apart.

"That was for how much I love you, and how happy it makes me that all of this is really happening."

A huge smile appeared on JJ's face.

"I love you, too."

She kissed him again, before she opened the door.

"Now get going before you're late."

JJ was secretly glad to have Dave out of her sight for about 1 ½ hours. It would give her the time to pack those things he had much rather she threw out. They'd had quite a few discussions over the past week about her coffee machine – which, in her opinion, made the best coffee in the world so there was no way she'd get rid of it – her electrical toothbrush, her hairdryer and various other items from her kitchen and bathroom.

"We need all the space for your other things in the moving boxes and I could always buy you a new and better coffee machine," Dave had repeatedly argued and after a while left JJ rather annoyed with it. She didn't understand why he would want to replace something that was still working perfectly. In her eyes, it didn't make much difference if they were taking these items with them to Little Creek now, or if they had to bring new ones afterwards. Plus, she was rather attached to her belongings. She knew how to use them and was perfectly happy with what she had. There was no need for some outrageously expensive model just because it was the best and latest in the market.

While Dave was out, the rest of the team and Jimmy arrived by and by, and they could all start packing. The kitchen was cleaned out and packed up first, and Hotch and Morgan were just out to drive away the first boxes of things JJ had decided to donate to a homeless shelter, when Dave came back with her parents.

Between the eleven of them, they managed to neatly fill all the boxes by early afternoon, although JJ had been more occupied with checking from Morgan and Reid in one room, wanting to know things like _"Do you want to keep this?"_ to Penelope and Emily in another, asking: _"How 'bout that?"_, and in between chasing after Henry, who was happily climbing through the growing piles of boxes, trying to unpack them again.

They had rented a moving van, which in the end was fully loaded.

While JJ, her mother and Dave's mother stayed back to clean up the empty apartment, Dave and Jimmy drove the van out to Little Creek, and the others followed in their respective cars. Jimmy had made sure that he was the one to be in the vehicle with Dave. He wanted to have some uninterrupted time alone with his friend to talk to him.

"This is the first time you let someone into your house," he began after they had been driving in silence for the first few minutes.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked suspiciously. He wasn't exactly keen on having this conversation again. Hotch, Morgan, even Emily – not to mention his mother – had already grilled him about being certain that this was what he really wanted.

"I mean, someone permanently moving in with you," Jimmy clarified.

"I have lived together with women before," Dave replied accusingly, not sure where Jimmy was going with this.

"I know, Davey. And I'm not going to elaborate on how this had turned out. But you've never let anyone live with you at Little Creek. You've had this house for how long? Since before wife number two if I recall correctly. And not once were you living there with one of your wives. Not one of them probably even saw the inside of this house. With none of them were you willing to share your sanctuary. You'd rather bought an entirely new place than let anyone move in there with you," Jimmy went on.

"JJ and the kids are special. They deserve only the best," Dave answered sincerely.

Jimmy smiled softly. His family had miraculously turned Dave into a completely different person. No, Jimmy thought, that probably wasn't exactly true. Davey was still the same man, but JJ and the children had managed to bring out a part of his very complex personality that he had hidden deep inside of himself for far too many years.

"I'm just surprised, Davey. But for what it's worth, I'm happy for you. It's about damn time, I'd say," Jimmy said.

"You know, as a priest you should really mind your word choice a bit better," Dave remarked, prompting a brief laugh from Jimmy.

"As long as your mother's not here to hear me, I'd say I'm fairly safe," he chuckled. And in a more serious tone, he continued: "I mean it, Davey. I'm really happy for you and Jennifer. She's good for you, that's obvious. I just hope you won't screw it up."

"Why does everybody keep telling me this?" Dave sighed annoyed.

"Because you have a history of screw-ups on your record, maybe?" Jimmy retorted sarcastically. "Seriously, Davey, I'm not just saying this because I'm concerned for Jennifer and the children. I'm just as concerned about you. You've been beaten before, but you always stood up again, but I'm not sure if you'd survive another blow."

"I've been through hell last year, Jimmy. I know what it means to lose them. There's no way I'm going to risk that ever again," Dave assured him.

Jimmy nodded. He had heard the story from Gracia, and Dave's fear and hesitation in the beginning didn't surprise him in the slightest. Not after everything Dave had been through with his previous women. He didn't know JJ very well yet, but he meant what he said. She was good for Dave, and they were obviously meant for each other. And the fact that Dave didn't even hesitate to let them into his home made him certain that his friend finally managed to get it right. He was just checking if Dave had understood that as well.

"I'm impressed with what you've become, Davey," Jimmy told him after a moment of silence. "And I hope you know that you always have a place to come to if you need anything."

"Thanks, Jimmy. I really appreciate that," Dave replied softly. At his friend's words, he felt his conscience for not meeting with him more often and for taking so long before introducing his family nagging at him again. Jimmy had been his friend practically his whole life, and he felt pretty guilty for excluding so much from his life lately.

"I'm really sorry, Jimmy, for not telling you about them sooner," he offered his excuse.

"Forget about it, Davey. I know you well enough to be sure you didn't do it on purpose."

"Still. You're my oldest friend and you were basically the last one to know about Hannah."

"Oh, your mother has been keeping me up to date in detail, trust me," Jimmy grinned. "And I haven't been exactly forthcoming in the past months either, so I guess we're even."

Dave nodded. "I guess we are."

For the rest of the drive, they continued to chat about JJ, Hannah and Henry. Dave shared a variety of anecdotes about his family and told Jimmy his view of everything that had happened over the last year. By the time they arrived at Dave's house, or at the new Rossi-Jareau-family home, Jimmy was as convinced as ever that his friend finally got his happy end.

Hotch had stopped on the way to pick up Jack from his play-date that had been a godsend this morning. His son was hard to control when it came to moving boxes and packing and unpacking things. He wouldn't have been of a valuable help today if he'd had to watch out for Jack, too. Now, they had brought up the packages with Henry's toys into the nursery and Hotch had instructed Jack to help unpack them, which the boy was excitedly doing together with Henry.

The boxes had all been brought inside when JJ, Mary-Ann, and Gracia arrived as well, and they all spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and making room and finding the right places for JJ's things. They didn't finish everything in one day, but JJ and Dave would be able to cope with the rest from this point on in the next couple of days.

While everyone else was busy with emptying boxes, tidying up, and moving furniture, Mary-Ann and Gracia had holed up in the kitchen as soon as all of JJ's stuff had founds its way into the cabinet, and prepared a large dinner for everyone.

Dinner being ready to be served marked the end of work. Gathering around the huge table in the dining room, everyone was surprised by the dishes Gracia and Mary-Ann had created. Before they started to eat, Dave got up and began to speak.

"I'd like to thank you all for your help today. I think I can also speak for JJ by telling you how much we appreciate you all being here today. We truly have the best family and friends around." He paused and raised his glass to the team, his mother, JJ's parents, and Jimmy, before he went on.

"JJ. I don't think I can express with words how much I love you. We've come a long way, but I'm happy we've finally arrived at our destination. I know I should have handled a couple of things differently when we started out, and if I could turn back time I would change them, but I don't regret anything that came out of it. It's amazing how that one night, here in this place, had changed our whole life forever, and I know I'll be forever grateful for everything you have given me. You've given me a daughter I love and adore more than anything else and a son who I couldn't love more if he were my own flesh and blood. But most importantly, you've given me your love. I'm still not sure with what I deserve all of this, but I can assure you that I will protect and treasure it for the rest of my life."

Tears were streaming down JJ's face after Dave had ended his unexpected speech, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck as he walked around the table to take her into his arms, holding her close.

"I love you so much," she whispered against his skin, for a moment forgetting the rest of their family and friends who were all watching them with teary eyes as well.

The spell was broken when Emily said to Garcia: "If this is what happens when they're moving in together, I cannot wait to see what he comes up with for a proposal."

The whole table burst into laughter until they proceeded to have dinner after a short grace by Father Jimmy.

It was a perfect way to end a stressful but nonetheless very successful and happy day. At some point over the course of the evening, everybody wondered what the future might hold for JJ, Dave and the kids, but they all knew that, whatever it was, it would surely be just as exciting as everything else that was behind them.

_**The end**_

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_**A/N: **When I started writing this story, I never imagined it to turn out the way it did in the end. I've changed my outline probably a dozen times, when I realized at the end of a chapter that I didn't get to a point I had originally planned. Most of all, I didn't expect the story to end up with 50 chapters. I know that, compared to many other wonderful stories up here, fifty doesn't sound much, but seeing as it was my first real multi-chapter fic, it's quite a number for me. It's been a huge pleasure to write it and I want to thank everyone who has been reading, alerting and favoriting very much. I hope you all had just as much fun reading this story as I had writing it. _

_A few end-of story shout-outs go to : _

_**snoozie2105 –** for the suggestions and help with finding a proper name for the baby girl. I still think that nice boys' names are a lot easier to find. _

_**ilovetvalot** – for some wonderful inspiration _

_and to everyone, who has reviewed one or more or every chapter: **jirrG, hxchick, ilovetvalot, mummacass, snoozie2105, Nepeace, sangreal7, tonnie20091969, Sue1313, JenRar, CrimStudent47, Mechia123, JenTWCSINYFAN, penguinlover250, tayababy, Starrmyst, Alisha70, cyn23, Whitelion69, bookworm45, Prisca512, Hotch-Prentiss-fan, sarafina89, D'Arean, TinaQTICO2, BritlovesReid, jamie61, kenzmom, Bobban, anitarose, SandyJean24, claire18974, Rexybaby, sugalipz247, katie, ians. **(I hope, I haven't forgotten anyone, if I did, feel yourself included ;)). _

_I had never expected to receive such a strong and fantastic reaction, which, admittedly, has been quite overwhelming, and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for not only reading, but also taking the time to leave some feedback and telling me what you were thinking. _

_Now, I'd love to hear some final thoughts, leave a review or pm me with what you liked, or didn't like, or tell me what I could do better next time._

_A sequel to this story is in the making. And I'm still taking ideas and suggestions for that. _

_Thanks again! _

_Vanessa _


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